Her Name is Alice
by Kuraki-chan
Summary: They sent her away because she fought as hard as she could to prove that a vampire killed her family. She's finally back in Mystic Falls, waiting for a lead, when she falls under Damon Salvatore's radar. Everyone begs her to run but what was the point if she was already crazy? She was just the right amount of crazy to be his babydoll. And nobody hurt his babydoll.
1. She's Painfully Returned

01: And Through the Looking Glass We See She's Painfully Returned.

All of Mystic Falls erupted in whispers and gossip when they saw her face again. It had been nearly three years that she was gone. Three years since the _incident_ that sent her away. She looked just as disheveled as she had when she left. Her ice grey eyes still set people on edge. Some shouted names at her when they saw her walk through town but she didn't hear them. She just kept walking straight for her destination. There was at least one person in the town who visited her and gave her a home when she returned. She was elated when Zach Salvatore answered the door to the boarding house and gave her a warm hug.

"Alice," he smiled at her, letting her in. "I'm so glad you made it here alright. Did anyone hassle you on the way?"

She shrugged, her nails scratching anxiously at the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "Crazypants is back in Mystic Falls."

"Don't talk about yourself like that and pay no mind to those who do." He held his hand out for her bag. "Let me show you to your room. I just have to warn you, my... _nephew_ , Stefan, is staying here as well. He hasn't been in town in many years. He doesn't know about you or your family."

She nodded calmly, handing him her frayed, black backpack. "That's fine. You never really spoke about your family."

They started to walk upstairs. "There isn't much to discuss. Stefan is just blowing through town for a bit. It's his brother Damon that I hope doesn't follow."

"Why's that?"

"Damon Salvatore is nothing but trouble; always has been. But they haven't spoken in some time." She nodded again and they came to a room towards the end of the hall. "Make yourself right at home, Alice. I have some errands to run today so I won't be around much."

Another simple nod. "That's fine, Zach." She turned and smiled at him as he set her bag on a chair. "I truly appreciate all you've done for me. You're the only person that's never thought I was insane."

He gave her a sad smile. "There's a lot of things in this world that you can't really explain. All you need to understand is that you're not insane, kiddo. Bad things happen to good people and sometimes those bad things are things people can't comprehend. I'll see you tonight, alright? I'll come home with pizza!"

She couldn't help but smile. "Oh sweet pizza, what a treat!" She laughed. "Extra cheese!"

"You got it, kid," he smiled at her as he walked back downstairs.

Alice looked around the nice room; there was a freshly made queen bed with black and grey blankets, a desk and chair, bookshelf filled with old novels, a nice closet and bathroom, and a long dresser with a TV and iPod dock on it. She pulled her messy, dark hair into a low, loose ponytail and put away the few clothes she had in the backpack. As she almost finished she heard rustling a few rooms down. She stopped, wondering if Stefan was there or if Zach had forgotten something. Curiously she stepped into the hall and made her way towards the noise.

"Zach?" She asked in a small voice when she reached the open bedroom. "Did you forget something?" She stood in the doorway, finding a man going through the bookshelf in the room. He turned to look at her, instantly curious. "Stefan?" She questioned hopefully.

The dark haired man chuckled, eyeing her up and down. "No, but I'm sure they'll both be back eventually. Who might you be, babydoll?"

She wasn't sure if she should feel complimented or irritated by the pet name. "My name is Alice. Zach Salvatore is a friend of mine; he's letting me stay here. Who are you if you're not Zach or Stefan than?"

He smirked at her and took a seat at the desk with a journal in his hands. "Name's Damon."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Stefan's brother."

"Well he's not one to brag but at least you've heard of me."

"I only just arrived her. Zach told me his nephew Stefan was also staying here for a bit and that his estranged brother was trouble."

Damon put his hand over his chest in mock hurt. "My reputation precedes me then. You could say I've always been the black sheep of the family."

Alice scoffed, looking out the large window behind him. "I know the feeling."

He set down the journal, looking at the dark haired girl curiously. He stood abruptly, motioning for her to follow him. Not having anything better to do, Alice followed him downstairs to the parlour. She sat on the couch as Damon poured two glasses of bourbon. He handed one to her and sat on the opposite side of the couch. "You look like you need to let go of some shit in your life. One strange outcast to another?" He smirked and held up his cup.

Alice shrugged and tapped her glass to his. "I grew up in Mystic Falls," she told him as she sipped the bourbon cautiously. She'd tried some alcohol before but never bourbon, especially not something as old and expensive as she figured what Damon had. "I had to leave for a little while."

"What happened?"

"My dad was always a piece of shit, smacking me, my mom, and my baby sister around. One night they got into it really bad." She took a larger swig as the memories resurfaced. "My mom told me to hide my little sister, keep her safe. I locked her in a closet and went looking for a defense weapon. I heard someone break in downstairs and started to panic. My mom ran out with a bloody nose and hid me in a linen closet. She begged me not to make any noise until it was all over." Another swig. "I watched through the slats as the door protecting my sister was kicked in effortlessly and she and my parents were brutally murdered."

Damon didn't take his eyes off of hers as they looked around anxiously, something dark and far away deep within them. She was haunted. "I'm so sorry to hear that," he told her sympathetically. "Stefan left town after we lost our parents too."

"I didn't leave willingly," she admitted quietly, pulling her knees to chest. "I probably could have if this town didn't lie but instead they had to ruin what was left of me and my family by declaring their deaths as some animal attack."

He nearly choked on his drink. "What do you mean?"

"I watched everything with my own eyes," her voice broke a little. "I watched the monster that tore my family to shreds and it was no animal that the town claimed. It was a person." She finally looked up and met Damon's eyes. "A woman."

"A woman?" He questioned with a dark curiosity.

Alice looked away suddenly, swirling what was left in her glass around. "They told me I was crazy and sent me away."

"They didn't even look into it? I mean, I know it sounds farfetched - how would one woman kill three people, one of which being a grown man?"

"With her teeth," she responded absentmindedly. "I know what she is; I know this town's history. And I'm going to make them all believe me when I drag the bitch through the town square with a stake through her chest." She finished the bourbon in her cup and sighed. "I'm sorry for all that," she shook her head. "Everyone else in town thinks I'm mental so you might as well too." She stood to leave when Damon grabbed her wrist.

"I don't think you're crazy, Alice," he told her comfortingly. Her grey eyes widened with surprise. "I believe you."

"Seriously?" She asked with a hint of hope. "What made you believe me?"

"Oh I believe entirely in the supernatural. This town is crawling with vampires."

Her eyes widened with light. "You're joking!"

Damon smirked and his face started to change. "Not at all, babydoll."

Alice nearly couldn't breathe. The glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the hardwood floor.

* * *

Alice awoke with a small groan. She sat up in the bed, realizing she was in her room at the boarding house. She was still dressed in her day clothes and the sun was nearly set outside. She cracked her neck but it still ached. She looked around her room and found her clothes still out and one dresser drawer open; she had been in the middle of putting her clothes away. Why hadn't she finished? Her feet touched the floor and she heard glass shattering outside.

The ravenette scrambled to her window, eyes bug wide when she saw Damon and who she presumed to be Stefan. They had crashed out of one of the second story windows, resuming their tussle in the yard. She ran down the hall, her feet padding against the hardwood, to the room she found Damon in earlier. It was that window they had broken.

Her hand flew to her mouth as a gasp escaped her lips. Something chimed and she pulled a long cord from beneath her shirt. Gently, she thumbed over a piece of blue looking crystal with a bell hung off the top. She took a shaky breath as memories from the day slowly came back to her. Her hand ghosted over her neck as the memory of Damon tearing into it haunted her into feeling it again. She ran back to the bathroom in her room to search her skin for marks only to find none. The crystal dangled from her neck, the bell jingling.

"Oh, Alice!" Damon's voice echoed down the hall, making the girl jump. "You stepped in glass, babydoll! You might want to let us look at it."

She looked down immediately to her feet. He was right, her right foot was bleeding. She had left bloody splotches right to herself. She started to panic; Damon must have thought she forgot everything but she didn't. Her crystal protected her mind from his compulsion. She wasn't sure what to do and froze when he found her in the bathroom.

"Let me look at your foot, babydoll," he told her silkily. He looked down and noticed the crystal she wore. "That's a lovely stone."

Her hand clutched the gem protectively. "It's blue kyanite. It-"

"Keeps someone from poking around in your noggin," he smirked. "I know. Even more clever than vervain. I didn't think those kinds of things actually worked."

She laughed dryly. "Yeah, me either. Never thought I'd have the opportunity to really test it."

"Damon!" She heard Stefan call.

The elder brother rolled his eyes as Stefan ran into the room. "Relax, brother," he eyed her warningly. "I was only trying to help Alice clean up her foot. Afterall it's only because of the glass we broke. It's the least I could do."

"How do you know her?"

Alice looked past the raven haired brother to find his younger sibling, concern in his green eyes. "He was snooping through your journal when I got here. We met and I went back to unpacking. Did Zach tell you?"

"Yes he did," the younger brother replied calmly. "I just wanted to make sure Damon didn't harass you on your first day back in Mystic Falls."

She didn't look away from Stefan, feeling his brother's eyes locked on her. She offered a small smile. "No," she also remembered Damon's voice attempting to compel her, "I got tired of unpacking so I took a nap. I only met Damon in passing earlier." She turned back to the elder brother. "If you wouldn't mind looking at my foot I would really appreciate it."

Damon turned to Stefan with a victorious smirk before grabbing a first aid kit from under the sink while Alice jumped onto the counter. "Don't like seeing your own blood?" He teased her purposely.

"No, it's actually pulling something out of myself that makes me cringe. Blood doesn't bother me in the slightest." She smiled devilishly.

When he heard Stefan was out of earshot, Damon chuckled and looked at her small foot. "When did you start wearing that nifty crystal?"

"It was the only thing I was permitted to wear for jewelry in the loony bin because one of the nurses gave it to me. She got special permission for me to wear it."

"So the town seriously sent you to an institution?" He questioned with minor disbelief as he grasped the glass with tweezers.

She nodded sadly. "I kept on their case for too long that my family was killed by a vampire. Everyone thought I'd gone completely schitzo with my research. They got tired of hearing me and seeing what it was doing to me. They knew the truth and they needed me quiet. With my family dead I was turned over to the state and Mayor Lockwood recommended I be institutionalized. He said it would help me become an adult because I was barely sixteen. I'd always be into the occult and they threw it in my face." She winced when the glass popped out of her skin.

He cleaned off the blood and the gash with peroxide. "Do you remember what that nurse's name was that gave you the crystal?"

"Of course; Nurse Branson. She was beautiful and the nicest of all the nurses. Not just because she believed me but because she was a sweet woman."

Damon looked up at her curiously for a moment before bandaging her foot. "She believed that a vampire killed your family?"

"Yeah, she actually started to help me, too the more she listened. Before I was released she told me my answers should be in Mystic Falls. I told her I didn't want to go back."

"Yet here you are." He stood and leaned against the wall, prompting her to continue.

Alice sighed. "The day I was released she found me just before I left. She said she was onto something and would meet me in Mystic Falls but I absolutely had to go. And here I am."

He smirked. "I think we might get along alright, babydoll."


	2. Come Out and Play

02: Come Out and Play.

When she ventured downstairs the following morning, Alice heard the front door creak open. She turned the corner and nearly ran into Elena in the foyer. She recognized the brunette immediately; she was only a little older than Elena Gilbert. It was Dr. Grayson Gilbert that looked her over first when she finally called for help. She remembered him testifying at her court date and how he told everyone she was 'too mentally unstable for the real world'.

"Elena," she greeted rather coldly.

"Alice," the brunette inhaled a sharp breath. She was surprised, to say the least. "I-I'm sorry for barging in. The door was open. I'm glad to see you're okay."

"Yeah I suppose it's been much calmer around here without the girl who believed a vampire killed her family."

Elena winced. "Alice, it's not-"

Out of nowhere a massive black bird flew by both of them, making them jump and screech. Elena jumped again, prompting Alice to turn around. When she found Damon up in her personal space, she also jumped again, bumping into Elena. "You are one creepy son of a bitch!"

"You must be Elena," he looked to the brunette. "I'm Damon; Stefan's brother."

"He didn't tell me he had a brother," she responded as the ravenette composed her.

"Well, Stefan isn't one to brag."

"Yeah," Alice crossed her arms over her chest, "no one likes to air their dirty laundry all over town." She smirked.

He quirked a brow and swiftly grabbed her with his hand over her mouth. "Do forgive my little babydoll's mouth," he flashed Elena a smile. Alice stomped on his foot but he didn't budge.

Elena's eyes widened. "You two are an item?"

Alice wriggled around beneath his grasp, yelling helplessly behind his hand. Damon smirked with a plot and wrapped his other arm around her waist. "We haven't really gone public yet; don't really do labels, you know? But Stefan's given us some hope, seeing how smitten he is with you. For a while there I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him."

"The last one?" She questioned with uncertainty.

"Yeah, Katherine. His girlfriend?" He saw the look on her face. "Ohh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet."

"Nope…"

"Well I'm sure it'll come up now," he grinned, leaning his chin on Alice's shoulder. She rolled her eyes and continued to shout from behind his hand. "Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end."

"You say it like every relationship is doomed to end." She glanced down at Alice who was glaring up at Damon.

He looked down to the grey eyed girl briefly before turning back to Elena. "I'm a fatalist. And sweet Alice likes it dark and morbid. I have a little bit of hope."

"You know what," Elena started to back out slowly, " just tell Stefan I stopped by. I have some things to do today."

"Great meeting you, Elena," he gave her a half smile as she shut the door behind her. At last he released Alice who was seething.

"What in all hell was that?!" She balled her fist, reeling it back and hitting him in the chest.

Damon chuckled and held her lightly against a wall. "Welcome back to Mystic Falls, babydoll." He gave her a wink.

She pretended to gag, sticking her tongue out. "Just because you look like walking sex does not mean you qualify to even tell people we're an attempt of an item."

"Hm...I beg to differ. I heard Zach never came through with the whole pizza thing so I'm going to be the first to treat you to burgers at the Grill," he gave her his signature smirk. He could see the hesitation on her face. "I promise you I'll make it interesting."

"Well how can a girl say no to interesting burgers?" Alice laughed a little.

* * *

"You ever play pool before?"

Alice bit her thumb nail and shook her head. "No, I never really could hold the stick right." She giggled.

Damon nearly laughed and handed her a pool cue before racking the balls. "What do you say we make a friendly wager?"

"How is that even fair if I don't know what I'm doing?"

He flashed her a wolfish grin. "I'll teach you while we play. What do you say?"

She rolled her eyes playfully, leaning on the cue. "What's the bet?"

"You win and I'll help you find the vampire that killed your family." Her ears perked up. "I win," he smirked, "and you've got to make yourself useful to me around town."

She quirked a brow and put a hand on her hip. "Does that include pretending to be your little plaything?"

"You make it sound so cold, like your heart is made of ice." He teased her. "Of course you could be my pretend girlfriend like I know you're dying to."

She laughed and pushed him out of her way with the cue. "Keep dreaming, Salvatore." She bent down and launched the cue ball into the triangle, knocking three in a row into pockets. Damon stared his jaw dropped as she landed another two. She put a hand to her mouth and giggled. "Oops! Must be beginners luck!"

He started to laugh. "She's got a pretty face and can hustle. I'm mildly impressed."

"What was that? Damon Salvatore telling me I'm pretty before I mop the floor with him?" She grinned up at him and landed one more ball before missing her next shot.

"Damn," he slipped the cue right out of her hand. "Guess it's time for you to see the master at work."

The two were evenly matched for the entire game. It finally came down to just the eight ball. They each missed the first time and Alice was up for another shot. She leaned down carefully and eyed the path she needed. She chuckled lightly when Damon got in her personal space. "That's totally cheating, jackass."

"Make the shot, babydoll." He smirked in her face.

With a heavy sigh Alice reeled back the cue and struck the white ball. The 8-ball sunk perfectly where she needed but before she could get excited the cue ball followed and also sank into the pocket. "Fuck," she groaned, throwing her face into her hands.

Damon laughed and pat her on the head. "You've got some talent, babydoll. Don't worry, I'll still help you as long as you return the favor."

"Seriously?" She questioned skeptically.

He nodded, leaning against the pool table. "You have my word."

Without warning she hugged him. "Thank you, Damon."

Seeing Vicky Donovan looking their way, he returned the hug, resting his chin on her shoulder. "I guess you really did want to be my pretend girlfriend," he snickered.

Alice flung herself off, resisting the urge to slap him across the face. "You always know just when to be a jackass, don't you?"

"I know you," came Vicky's voice near them.

"That's unfortunate," the two said in unison. Damon chuckled while Alice seethed and crossed her arms.

"I don't…" She shook her head. "I don't know how, but...your face. Oh god, I'm sorry. Excuse me." She quickly ran off towards the bathrooms.

Alice blinked. "And they called me crazy but let the junkie wander around. That's cool."

"She said bitterly," Damon mocked, earning another punch to his arm. "I'll be right back, babydoll."

Alice turned to question why he kept calling her 'babydoll' only to find him already gone. She frowned; he was a tricky bastard made worse by being a vampire. A small commotion caught her attention and she saw Stefan slipping out towards the stairs that led to the roof. Curiously, Alice followed as silently as she could. She hid in a dark corner watching a confrontation between the Salvatore brothers with Vicky in the middle. She couldn't really hear what they were saying until Damon started to back up dangerously close to her.

"I guess I'll just have to get more creative with that eternity of misery then," he taunted his little brother.

"Damon, let it go," Stefan argued.

"It's good to be home, little brother. Think I might stay a while. This town could use a bit of a wake up call, don't you think? Perfect timing with Alice's return."

"Leave Alice out of this, she's been through enough." After the words left his lips he caught sight of the girl through the darkness and mentally cursed himself.

"She's been through enough," Damon mocked. "Now how would you know that, I wonder?" When Stefan didn't respond he sped through the dark corner, snatching Alice up into his arms tightly.

"What the hell!" She shouted, kicking her legs unsuccessfully.

"Damon, what are you up to?" Stefan questioned with haste.

"That's for me to know and for you to...dot, dot, dot." He replied mischievously. "Give Elena my best."

"Damon, don't!"

With a wink the elder brother leaped off the ledge, Alice held firmly in his arms. Stefan ran to the side and they were gone without a trace.

* * *

When she opened her eyes Alice was back at the boarding house. She started to laugh, collapsing on the couch. "Damon Salvatore you are a maniac," she told him with a grin.

He arched an eyebrow, handing her a glass of bourbon. "Figured you'd be more ticked off."

She shook her head as she sipped the drink. "Aside from the constant manhandling, that was quite thrilling. I never thought I'd get to know the feeling of falling from a building and not dying. Most fun I've had in awhile." She threw her boot-clad feet up on the coffee table as Damon sat beside her on the couch.

He mimicked her and put his feet up on the table as his sipped his bourbon. "Why, if you're so hellbent on killing the bitch that killed your family?"

"Just because it was one bitch of a vampire that hurt and crossed me doesn't mean I hold it over the entire species. I've always been interested in the occult." She shrugged.

"And what if it turns out that I'm no different than that woman?"

"Well, it wasn't _my_ family you killed," she replied with a morbid grin.

Damon started to laugh. "You are insane, babydoll," he put his other arm on the back of the couch, lightly around her shoulders. "Just not in the perverse way this town made you out to be."

She looked up at him and smiled, sipping at her drink. She was secretly thrilled to know vampires and the supernatural existed. Not only did it put a lot of pieces together for her but it gave her a new world to step into. A world where her kind of crazy wasn't so far fetched.


	3. Drink Me, Shrink Me, Fill Me to Sink Me

03: Drink Me, Shrink Me, Fill Me to Sink Me.

Alice walked out of her bathroom in a towel, nearly jumping out of her skin when she found Damon in her room. She clung to the towel protectively. "You could stand to make yourself known instead of attempting to give me a coronary while I'm in a _towel_."

Damon played with the black shopping bag in his hand, eyeing her up and down like candy with a playful smirk. "Why would I want to do that? It would have ran the risk of you putting on clothes and then I wouldn't get to see this." He held the bag in front of her. "Your wardrobe needs an upgrade, babydoll. We're crashing a dinner party in a few hours."

She groaned. "Are you always doing something mischievous everyday? Some people jog everyday and you have to go around stirring the pot?" She reached for the bag only for him to yank it out of her reach. She frowned and adjusted her towel.

He wagged a finger at her. "Our deal was pretty open ended, you know."

"And dare I ask what that means?"

"Well this little rendezvous tonight will absolutely help solidify our little relationship to everyone but just like how it's gonna take some effort in finding your family's killer," he started to walk slowly towards her, causing her to back up, "it's not easy being _my_ girlfriend. I can be very needy. And you have to be very believable." Her back hit the wall and he gently brushed her damp hair off her pale shoulder, exposing the skin of her neck. "I'm not sure you want to be playing in vampire territory, let alone mine."

Without hesitation she tilted her head to the side, further baring her neck. "I know you're not going to kill me, it wouldn't benefit you." She heard the bag drop on the floor beside them and felt his breath on her skin. A sharp breath escaped her lips and he grinned against her neck, face changing and fangs extending.

* * *

Alice scowled at the sound of the doorbell. "I hate this house," she muttered, playing with the hem of the black blouse Damon had gotten her and made her wear. She also wore a deep maroon skirt that just barely covered her thighs, black flats, and a maroon scarf around her neck. Her long hair was left in loose, natural waves; eyeliner and mascara was the only makeup she wore.

"Don't worry, babydoll," Damon gave her a reassuring half-smile, "we're here to cause a fuss. So it's okay to get sarcastic and mouthy."

When Elena opened the door she looked perplexed. Damon offered her a dazzling smile, holding out a container of tiramisu. "We heard you were doing dinner so we brought dessert."

"Hope you don't mind," Alice gave her a sarcastic smile, lightly wrapping an arm around Damon's.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan came suddenly. He noticed Alice and his eyes widened.

"We're waiting for Elena to invite us in," Damon smirked.

"Uhm, yeah, sure," Elena began. "You can-"

"Oh no," the green eyed Salvatore interjected. "No, they can't stay. Can you, Damon?"

"Then why would we have showed up?" Alice gave him a dark smile.

"It's fine," Elena stepped aside. "Come on in, guys."

"You still have a very beautiful home, Elena," the raven haired girl commented as they headed towards the living room. "It hasn't changed much since your dad helped send me away."

The brunette tried to ignore the harsh jab. "How have you been, Alice?"

"Alice?" Bonnie rose to her feet when the four entered the living room. "My god, Alice, you look fantastic."

She smiled coyly and did a small spin, fluttering the skirt. "What can I say? Finally a man with a great fashion sense." She looked up at Damon with admiration. "He's been absolutely wonderful."

"How'd you two meet, anyways?" Bonnie asked with a smile as they all sat down.

Damon's lips pressed into a tight line; he hadn't thought of that. Thankfully, Alice jumped in. "When they finally released me I'd pretty much given up hope. My family was dead and nobody believed a word I had to say. I was on a ledge when Damon found me." She smiled and took his hand. "He talked me down and he's taken care of me since."

He could have laughed; she was a clever girl. Elena and Bonnie immediately took pity and swooned over the heroic story. Stefan knew the truth and stared at them both coldly. "You know, that is a lovely scarf you're wearing, Alice," the younger brother commented. He reached towards it slowly. "Would you mind if I took a look?"

Instinctively Alice's hand flew out and slapped his away. Her face had frozen still with a creepy, distant smile on her lips. "I'm terribly sorry," she told him with a very honeyed tone. "All my time away from other people has damaged my social relationships. I'm not very touchy with others and I act out when I'm uncomfortable."

Damon wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her onto his lap from where she sat on the arm of the large chair. "I'm so thankful that when it's just us she's actually suffocatingly cuddly. It's adorable. There isn't a moment she isn't clung to me when it's just us." Her cheeks turned bright red and she punched his arm.

* * *

"Oh you have got to be blowing me," Alice groaned when she woke up the following morning. She rolled over, throwing a pillow over her head, when she woke up beside Damon.

"You know, you really are demanding for cuddles when it's just me in bed with you," he teased her with a wink.

"You give me subtle aneurysms," she groaned, hiding herself under the blankets. "Get out of my bed."

Damon laughed and pulled her to him with little effort, holding her firmly against his chest. He could feel her cheeks inflame when she realized he was shirtless. "You're such a good girlfriend around everyone but you're so mean to me behind closed doors even when I have valuable information about your family."

She looked up at him, leaning her chin on his chest. "You're lying."

"Nope," he grinned down at her. "The Monrovia family goes back for centuries. They're littered with war soldiers and 'unorthodox healers'."

She quirked a brow. "What does that mean?"

"It's a pretty big variety being anything from herbal healers to wiccans to witches and worse with everything in between."

She propped herself up on her elbows, a stray lock of her dark hair falling in her face. "And let me guess: that nice bit of information comes with a small fee." She smirked.

He flipped her around, pinning her to the bed and staring down at her. "Now you're starting to get the picture." He nuzzled her neck, kissing the skin gently. A small gasp escaped her lips. "I could almost wonder if you'd really be a good girl for me."

* * *

"Alice!" She heard Stefan's voice call. With a sigh she turned and faced him. She was uninterested in the idea of high school football to begin with let alone running into Stefan. "Why are you hanging around Damon and lying for him? He's dangerous, Alice."

The ravenette shrugged. "Oddly enough I get along better with Damon than I ever did anyone in this town. He makes me feel remotely sane and grounded."

"By bringing you into his world? It's filled with blood and murder. Wherever Damon goes people die."

"That's a given," she shrugged again. "Call me morbid or even as fucked up as he is but I finally feel like I have a purpose to someone. He's shown me things I never could have imagined in my wildest dreams."

"Those aren't dreams, Alice. They're nightmares."

"Perspective, brother." A chill ran down Alice's spine when she heard his voice. Damon emerged from the dark, sliding up beside the ravenette. "Steffie finally joins a team and I've made a friend. She's a cute little thing, isn't she?" He played with her hair and she playfully slapped his hand away. "Some might even say we have similar personalities. It's been awfully fun trying to seduce her with the way she plays right back." He smirked. "Or maybe I could turn her and then you'd really have a problem on your hands."

Stefan could tell by the look on her face that that was a new concept but frighteningly enough not one that bothered her; he could see the spark of excitement in her eyes. "You wouldn't do that to her, Damon."

"No?" He brushed Alice's hair back. She was wearing a black off the shoulder sweater; her shoulder and neck were left exposed. "I'm not sure Alice would complain."

"No," Stefan replied firmly. "Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her. I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you, that you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be."

"Who's pretending?" Damon laughed. He put his hands on her hips and rested his head in the nook of her shoulder. "Being human is so overrated, especially with her sob story. Being a vampire might benefit her. I can show her how fun it is."

The door opened nearby, Mr. Tanner coming out looking for Stefan. His eyes landed on Alice and he laughed. "I'll be damned. I didn't believe the rumor but the little vampire girl really did come back." Alice frowned and looked away; she'd never gotten along with Tanner.

Something in Damon snapped and he sped over to Tanner, tearing out his throat with his teeth. Alice's lips parted as his blood dripping, lifeless body clashed to the ground. She looked up at Damon with his eyes still dark and fangs still dripping with Tanner's blood. Her heart skipped a beat. "Anyone, anytime, any place," he told his brother with a sick grin.

"Alice, please run," the younger brother urged the girl. When he didn't hear anything he looked over at her and was horrified by the admiration in her eyes as she stared at Damon dripping with blood. "Alice, please! He's only got a shred of humanity left that's keeping you alive!"

Slowly her head tilted towards him. Her eyes were dark. She shrugged. "Who gives a damn? The town already believes I'm a lunatic. No one would miss me."

Damon grabbed her roughly, pulling her to him. She realized she was starting to sickeningly enjoy the manhandling. "And that's under the premises that I'd be the big bad vampire and take your life entirely." He brushed a stray hair from her face. "But I'd much rather you by my side eternally instead."

He bent down and kissed her even with Tanner's blood still warm dripping from his lips. Alice's head was spinning like she was on drugs as she kissed him back. She could feel the horror struck look Stefan was staring them down with.

"If that's my humanity," Damon taunted with Alice still close to him, "then what's this?" He smirked and they vanished, leaving Stefan alone.


	4. The Girl that Chased the Rabbit

04: The Girl That Chased the Rabbit, Drank the Wine, and Took the Pill

She awoke with a shameful groan, curling deeply into the blankets when she recalled the events of the night before. She realized she was naked and wrapped in her blankets and cursed herself. Something rustled near her pillows and she found a note. Her eyes nearly rolled into another dimension; it was Damon informing her that she was his date to the Founder's Party that night and that he was getting her dress. Crumpling the note and flinging it across the room she forced herself out of bed to take a hot shower.

Alice ran a hand through her damp hair when she finally exited the bathroom, fully dressed after her previous mistake. She stopped in her tracks when she found a large black box with a maroon ribbon wrapped around it. She rolled her eyes and walked over to it. "At least the asshole is one classy mother fucker," she chuckled.

"Probably a perk of being raised in the 1800s," came Zach's voice in her doorway. "You're the one who decided to feed into his games."

She shrugged and played with the silky ribbon. "Being around Damon is the most normal I've ever felt. Including before the town sent me away."

"He doesn't mean it, Alice. He kills and manipulates people. How could you feel normal around that?"

"Some of them want to use you," she sang quietly. "Some of them want to get used by you. Some of them want to abuse you; some of them want to be abused…" She looked to Zach with a dark, vacant, and hollow look in her eyes. "What if I'm no better or different that him?"

"You're speaking nonsense, Alice. You're nothing like Damon."

"Humans kill too, Zach," she retorted. Something in her voice sent a chill down his spine. "Except we do it for more selfish reasons. At least vampires are predators hunting their prey."

"And you're just fine with being the prey?"

She shrugged. "I'm content as prey _or_ predator. And it's the predator in me that makes me like Damon."

* * *

Alice sighed at her reflection as she zipped the dress behind her. Damon had picked out a strapless maroon cocktail dress with a floral lace print. He was sure to include black heels and a silk black scarf. She did minimal makeup, just eyeliner, mascara, and a matte maroon lipstick. Her hair she pulled half back into a loose ponytail and left it all down in natural raven waves. She carefully tucked her crystal beneath the dress.

Damon could hear her humming the closer he got to her room. He stopped in her doorway, recognizing the song 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)'. She didn't notice him and he took the opportunity to look her over. The dress barely reached her knees, leaving her pale, long legs mostly exposed and looking even longer with the stilettos. The fabric hugged her every curve, the maroon shade standing out beautifully against her pale skin and dark hair. She shook her hips while she fought with the dress and he nearly smiled. He stopped himself quickly, trying to keep his guard up.

"You look beautiful," slipped from his lips, making her jump. He quickly caught himself. "I knew you'd look good in maroon; the girl dressed in blood." He smirked.

Alice took a breath looking at him. He always did clean up nicely, wearing all black and a maroon tie. She had to admit at least to herself that there was no unclear reasons why she slept with him. Not when he looked like he did. She smiled softly and let him escort her to the Founder's Party.

* * *

"The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration." Elena read. "Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names—Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. Is that Damon Salvatore? And, Stefan Salvatore?"

"The original Salvatore brothers," Damon replied as he walked up with Alice on his arm. "Our ancestors. Tragic story, really."

"We don't need to bore the girls with stories of the past," Stefan argued.

"The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town," Damon ignored his brother. "Until the war. There was a battle here-"

"The Battle of Willow Creek," Elena interrupted.

Alice rolled her eyes. _Insufferable know-it-all,_ she thought.

"We talked about it in class," the brunette added quickly. "Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside."

"What the history books left out was the people that were killed. They weren't there by accident." Alice looked up at him curiously and intrigued. "They were believed to be union sympathizers. So some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church. And when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood."

Her crystal felt warm against her bare skin beneath the red dress. She could hear something through Damon's words, slowly picking up on the truth in what he had said. He and Stefan had gone after someone they cared about and they were shot in cold blood which caused them to turn. She took a breath.

"Who was in the church that they wanted to save?" The nosy brunette pried.

"A woman, I guess," he answered vaguely. "Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?"

Stefan didn't miss the way his brother looked down at the raven haired girl beside him. He took his chance. "Alice," he spoke suddenly, "that's a stunning scarf you're wearing tonight. Do you have a collection?"

Her eye twitched almost noticeably. "I've been thinking about starting one," she answered sarcastically.

"Would you like a glass of champagne?" He offered her a glass.

She looked at the glass and back up at Stefan. The blue kyanite warmed up against her skin again. She felt the slime oozing off of his words; he was trying to trick her into drinking the champagne but why? Slowly it all came together. Her lips twitched while she forced a smile. "Oh no thank you, I'm strictly a hard liquor kind of girl. No point in drinking if you remember doing it and don't feel guilty after!"

Damon nearly laughed and she excused herself to the bathroom. Not long after Elena suspiciously followed suit. He looked at his brother with a threatening smile. "Trying to roofie my girl won't get you anywhere, bro."

"How badly do you have this poor girl compelled?" Stefan hissed.

"There's the kicker Steffie - I can't compel her." He chuckled when his brother's eyes widened. "For the same reason you couldn't roofie her and I think it's hysterical."

On her way out of the bathroom Alice nearly bumped into Elena. She rolled her eyes when she saw the brunette. Her scarf had shifted just enough to give Elena a glimpse of a purple bruise on her pale skin. She reached for the fabric and Alice shoved her away. "Alice, is Damon hurting you?" She questioned frantically.

"Only in the good ways," the ravenette smirked and adjusted her scarf. "It's a hickey, Elena. Get one."

"Alice, I know we've never really been friends, but-"

She held her hand up, silencing the girl. "I don't want to hear it Elena. You don't actually care."

"I do care, Alice! Your relationship with Damon is unhealthy."

"Damon is the only person in this god forsaken town that believes me," Alice hissed, backing the brunette into a wall. "And it's not gonna be long before you do too, homecoming queen."

Alice stormed out of the bathroom in search of Damon. When she couldn't find him she looked for Stefan. Elena seemed just as perplexed. The ravenette shook her head and sat on a bench outside, staring up at the night sky. Something felt off to her.

* * *

" _Alice…"_

 _Her eyes opened slowly; she was sitting on the small, dingy twin bed at the institution. Her hair was in long pigtails, the crystal dangling from her neck. She wore the black leggings and grey t-shirt they gave her to wear. Nurses and doctors laid sprawled around her small bed covered in blood. The entire white, linoleum floor was saturated with their blood pooling._

" _Alice…"_

 _She sprung from the bed and ran through the bloody floor towards the voice. The halls were just as littered with bodies, staff and patients alike. Alice rounded a corner and found the stairs to the facility's basement. She forced the door open and her bloody bare feet padded across the cement floor. She followed the voice calling her name until she reached one of the solitary doors._

" _Alice…"_

" _Alice Monrovia!" She jumped when she heard the warden's familiar voice. She shrank back, biting her thumb nail. She could see the shadow of the man storming down the stairs._

" _Alice," the voice from the cell captured her attention entirely. "Alice, kill."_

 _Something in her flipped and all she saw was red._

* * *

Alice jolted awake in her bed, sweating profusely. It was the third night with almost the same dream and no Damon. She sighed and forced herself up and to get dressed. Something hadn't felt right to her for days. Stefan skirted on ice around her and Damon was gone without a trace. He told her to get over it, that he left and wasn't coming back. She knew better. She knew better when they told her it wasn't a vampire that killed her family and she knew better that Damon hadn't willingly taken off.

With a sigh, she bounded down the stairs. She ran into Zach as he came up from the basement. She quirked a brow. "Spring cleaning or something? I didn't even know there was a basement."

Fright was clear on his face. He quickly slapped on a smile and gently ushered the girl away. "Yeah, I had a few things to clean up. Come on, how's breakfast sound?"

She smiled and shrugged. "I'm easily bribed with food."

Zach took her to a little cafe and let her order what she wanted. He laughed when she was unbelievably excited to order a massive plate of French toast and bacon. "Alice," he started cautiously, "don't take this wrong way, but, has Damon hurt you at all?"

Alice sighed and sipped her hot chocolate (because she didn't care for coffee). "As much as everyone wants to believe he has, no, he has not. And he can't make me do anything I don't want to." She tugged the blue kyanite from beneath her black shirt. "A nurse at the institution got special permission for me to wear this. It's meant to keep people from messing with your head."

"You never told me that."

"You never told me your nephews were your uncles and vampires." She laughed and dug into her French toast.

"Fair enough," Zach chuckled, sipping his coffee.

"Do you really think Damon's gone?" She asked with her mouth full. She didn't miss Zach's hesitation.

"I'm sorry, kiddo. He wasn't good for you anyways." His phone rang suddenly and he excused himself to answer it. By time he returned Alice was finishing her plate. "I'm really sorry, Alice, but I've been called to a meeting."

She shrugged and smiled up at him. "That's fine. It's beautiful outside, I don't mind walking home."

"Are you sure?" She nodded and he put some money on the table. "Be careful, Alice."

She waved goodbye to him and finished her hot chocolate before packing up her things. She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked outside, heading towards the boarding house. The dream kept haunting her, sending a chill down her spine. She was lost deep in her thoughts when a loud caw snapped her back to reality. It flew dangerously close to her, making her jump.

"Fucking birds," she muttered, leaning against a tree and catching her breath. Out of nowhere she felt like she was being sucked from her body and into a deep trance. Her body froze up, eyes igniting an ice blue similar to Damon's. She gasped, a sick feeling overwhelming her body. Spots of a dingy basement clouded her vision.

" _Alice…"_

She gasped again and was released from the trance, Damon's voice echoing in her head. It was the same from her dream. Without another thought her boot-clad feet pounded against the pavement towards the boarding house. An eerie sense of deja vu crept down her spine but she ignored it and kept going. She ran right in the door, not bothering to shut it, and threw her bag on the couch. From the basement, Damon could hear her boots trotting towards the door.

" _Alice…"_

She shuddered when she heard him again. She ripped open the door to the basement. "I have little legs you impatient ass!" She called into the dark, running down without a second thought. She made a face when she realized there were cells and some herb growing in the basement. "What the fuck…" She muttered until she found the cell Damon was locked in. "What the hell happened to you?" She chastised through the bars.

He coughed and rolled his eyes. "Stefan happened. Get me the hell out of here."

"This suits you, you know," Alice teased him as she undid the various locks on the steel door. "I almost wish I thought of it."

"I'd watch that tongue of yours, babydoll," he warned her. "Or I'll get you for it when I'm out of here."

"You've got me shaking in my boots," she chuckled as the last lock clicked.

"Alice, no!" Zach's voice bellowed as he ran down the stairs.

She whipped around and he shoved her away from the door, accidentally knocking her head first into the cement wall. She bounced off the wall, falling on her face onto the ground. Blood dripped from a gash on the back of her head. Her vision started to darken but she watched the cell door fly open and heard Zach scream. She tried to force herself up only to fall back down.

After Zach dropped to the ground lifelessly, Damon turned to the petite ravenette also bleeding out on the floor. He rolled his eyes and bit his wrist, forcing her to drink it. "Ah, there's my babydoll," he commented with a smirk as she came to. He helped her stand and went right upstairs.

Alice snickered when she heard him shout because of the sunlight. She quickly dashed upstairs and closed all the curtains. "Wow, Stefan even took your daylight ring. What a dick move. It'd been three days; are you alright?" She turned to look at him and sighed as his face changed. "I guess I can consider that my answer."

* * *

When Stefan returned to the boarding house he was surprised first to find all the curtains closed. Nobody touched those ever? He then found the basement door open and smelled blood. Heading towards the basement he caught sight of blood on the floor and picked up the pace. He cursed when he found Zach in a bloodless heap and quickly searched the place for Damon or at least Alice. He only found a note left by Damon on the girl's bed.

 _Someone finally chose me, brother.  
_ _Wonder what I'll do now._

He rubbed his face and someone knocked on the door. He answered it and found Elena who looked frantic. "What are you?" She blurted out suddenly, further demolishing his night.


	5. It's Such a Long, Long Way to Fall

05: It's Such a Long, Long Way to Fall.

[Flashback to 1864]

A young girl with loose brown curls timidly approached the Salvatore residence. She had a medium bag slung over her shoulder and light in her big, blue eyes. She rapped on the door and her cheeks blushed bright pink when Damon stood before. "Good afternoon, Damon," she smiled brightly. "I have the herbs your father requested from my parents." She reached into the bag and took out a small box that she handed over to Damon.

He flashed her a wolfish grin. "It's always a pleasure to see you, Liza. And I haven't seen much of you lately."

She looked away timidly, fiddling with the hem of her corset bodice. "Sorry," she giggled. "My parents have needed me at the apothecary more than running errands and deliveries."

"I guess I'll have to make my way there more often then," he winked at her.

Across the yard Katherine was goofing off with Stefan. She saw the dark haired girl and scowled. With all her might she flung the football directly at the girl, whacking her hard in the head. "Terribly sorry," she called with a smirk. "I'm not very good at this game!"

The girl turned and saw who it was, her eyes widened with war. She quietly excused herself, rushing off the property.

* * *

[Present]

"This is such a drag," Alice rolled her eyes. She sat on a large rock, staring up at the stars, while Damon mauled a group of campers. "You take forever."

He laughed a little, tossing another body into the pile. "I just killed a group of teenagers and you're complaining that it's taking too long? You really are morbid, babydoll." He poured gasoline on the pile.

"Hang on," she stopped him, jumping off the rock. "This one's still kicking," she tapped Vicky Donovan with her foot. The girl rolled her head and groaned.

"Dealer's choice," Damon smirked at her. "What are you gonna do about it?"

Without breaking eye contact with him Alice put her boot on the side of Vicky's head and stomped down. The force cracked her head all the way over, snapping her neck. "Problem solved."

Damon started to laugh and told her to move, dropping a lighter and igniting the corpses. His phone rang; he laughed when he saw it was Stefan. "I want my ring," he greeted.

"Where are you?"

"I'm at the sizzler. I had the buffet. Where's my ring?"

"I don't have it. What have you done? Where are you? Where's Alice?"

"You're so brooding," he rolled his eyes. "Sweet little Alice is right here with me just fine. And I'm sorry, but what have _you_ done? You're the one that locked me in the basement and starved me, so whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is on you, buddy. Just be thankful Alice is my favorite human."

"I'll take that as a compliment?" The girl sweatdropped.

"You're being careless," Stefan accused. "How many more animal attacks is the town gonna believe?"

"I know how to cover my tracks, Stefan. Where's my ring?"

"I gave it to Zach to hide. Probably shouldn't have killed him."

Damon looked to his dark haired companion who's face scrunched up. The crystal scorched her skin again beneath her shirt. Stefan was lying. "Ah, you almost got me. Like I said, can't mess with Alice's head. Where's my ring?"

Stefan sighed. "I'll get it back, but I need time.

Alice groaned. "What, did you FedEx it to Rome?"

"I want my ring, Stefan. Or my next stop is going to be Elena's. You know Alice doesn't care for her very much either."

"I already want you dead, don't give me another reason to make it happen."

"Yeah like you could," Alice muttered, causing Damon to smirk.

"Don't give me another reason to rip you apart," the elder brother quipped back.

"Yeah? Before or after you get your ring back?"

Alice snickered and Damon flicked her head. "Just get it," he demanded before ending the call.

* * *

"So I'm stuck in the house with the curtains drawn all day with your miserable ass," Alice teased.

Damon tossed her a bottle of whiskey and held up one of his own. "Not so miserable when you're drunk!"

She laughed and swigged the bottle. "Vampires can get drunk?" She threw herself onto the couch.

He lifted her legs, sat down, and put her legs on his lap. "Takes more than it would for you but that's why I only have the old, expensive stuff," he grinned.

"You don't know my alcohol tolerance," she laughed and took another large swig.

He smirked. "I'm gonna find out today."

"How did Katherine fuck you up so badly?" She asked suddenly.

He looked at her and took a massive swig of his own whiskey, memories he had long since forgotten resurfacing.

* * *

[Flashback to 1864]

Damon opened the door and found his favorite curly brunette. Her hair had been pulled loosely to one side that day. He never missed each time her cheeks turned pink when she smiled. She gave him a set of herbs for his father and a basket of still warm muffins. "My mother baked them to welcome Miss Pierce to town," she smiled softly.

"How incredibly thoughtful," he returned the smile. "I'll have to thank Mrs. Monrovia when I walk her daughter home after having dinner with my family and I."

She became incredibly flustered. "Oh, Damon, I don't know-" He laughed and grabbed her hand, pulling her inside. "Damon, I don't wish to intrude-"

"Hush," he tapped her chin. "I invited you to stay for dinner. My father adores you as if you were his own. Please, have dinner with us and I will escort you home myself."

She sighed and smiled, allowing him to walk her to the dining room. He introduced her to everyone at the table and Giuseppe welcomed her warmly, telling her to sit beside Damon. The two sat and she found herself locked into a cold glare with Katherine Pierce across from her. "Elizabeth is your name?" She asked the dark haired young woman with a cold smile.

"Elizabeth Monrovia, ma'am," she responded politely with a confident smile. "My family runs the town apothecary. I usually make deliveries for my parents."

"They've been close friends of our family for some time now," Giuseppe commented.

"Little Liza has almost spent more time with us then her own family," Damon teased, poking her side. "She's got that baby doll face you can't help but keep around."

* * *

[Present]

He looked at Alice and finally noticed the similarities. He had just about long since forgotten Elizabeth Monrovia but could see the family resemblance in Alice. The bouncy, dark hair, curious and determined blue eyes (although Alice's were more grey), the button nose, the soft and high cheekbones. Alice, however, was much more fiery than Elizabeth ever was. Damon realized he enjoyed keeping her around; her personality amused him. It reminded him of himself.

"She chose Stefan," he admitted. "My love was never enough for her."

"Then why do you continue to chase after her love?"

"Because she'd already taken everything else from me. She was all I had left."

* * *

[Flashback to 1864]

"Damon," Giuseppe called. "Have you seen Miss Monrovia recently? She hasn't been by in nearly a week."

Damon was perplexed and concerned. "No, I haven't. I'll go see her family, see if she's there or if they know something."

When he got to the Monrovia residence on the edge of town he was appalled; there was a pool of half dried blood on their porch. He found Mrs. Monrovia on the steps sobbing. "Mrs. Monrovia?" He hurried to her side. "What's happened? Have you seen Liza?"

The woman's sobs grew louder. "She's gone, Damon," she weeped. "My baby girl was murdered and left on our steps!"

Fear coursed over him and he began to shake. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"She was exsanguinated, Damon," Mrs. Monrovia spoke hoarsely. "Her throat mutilated. Tell me, child, why do you continue to vye for Katherine Pierce's attention?"

* * *

[Present]

"Enough about Katherine," Damon groaned.

Alice rolled her eyes. Their bottles were both half empty. "Alright, alright. She makes me feel throat stompy anyways. Then how'd you get into my head when Stefan locked you in the basement? My crystal prevents that even to the most minor inconvenience apparently."

He arched a brow. "What are you talking about?"

"The creepy dreams and then the random trance?"

"Alice, I didn't do either of those things. I attempted to call to you but I honestly didn't think it'd work."

"No, I heard you. That's what got me thrown in the trance to begin with. Then I heard you again when I got here."

"What do you mean you were in a trance?"

She shrugged, tipping the bottle back again. "It was weird; everything just kind of stopped around me. I could feel how miserable you felt and saw the basement." She turned so she was upside down on the couch with her legs hanging over the top edge and hair pooled on the floor.

Damon chuckled; she was clearly at least tipsy. He stood and walked over to a stereo. "And the creepy dreams?"

Alice shuddered at the thought. "I could live with never having them again. It was every night for the three days were you gone. They were all mostly the same - I was back in the institution and the bodies of the nurses and doctors were scattered around me. The floor was drenched with their blood. I heard someone call my name - which I later realized was your voice doing so - and ran towards it into the basement. The warden came after me and the - _your_ \- voice told me, ' _Alice, kill.'_ And I lunge for him and I wake up."

Something dark sparked in Damon's mind. He pressed play, music blaring through the house. He stood over her and told her to get up. She shrugged and told him to move. He stepped to the side and watched as she flipped her lanky legs over herself, setting her feet on the floor. She stood upright and grinned up at him. He smirked and finished his last sip of whiskey. "When were you going to tell me you were flexible?"

"You never asked." She winked and walked by him, finishing her bottle as well.

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him, making her dance with him. She laughed and it seemed to fill the room. He spun her around and jumped up to the second floor loft, holding her close to the edge. "Tell me, Alice," his head tilted to the side, "do you trust me?"

Her heels were hanging off the edge and he only held her by her hands. Without looking away from him or taking a second to think she answered, "Yes."

"You know I could very well let you drop. You watched how easily I killed a whole group of people. Letting you fall would be even easier. And you have my blood in your system so if you died you'd turn."

"I still trust you, Damon. You seem to forget that I'm crazy."

He continued to stare into her eyes for a moment before letting go of her hands and watching her fall off the side. She didn't scream or yell or even close her eyes. In a flash he was below and caught her before she hit the floor. He set her down on her feet, holding her so her back was pressed to his chest. He nuzzled the nook of her shoulder for a moment while he played with her hair. She smiled and hummed contentedly.

While she was distracted he bit into his wrist, making it bleed, and held it to her mouth. She struggled for a moment (not very well as she normally would thanks to the whiskey) before he bit into the crook of her neck. Alice started to feel light headed and calm like the first time she smoked weed. He finally released her and she took a breath, a drop of his blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

"You've begged for my world to exist so you wouldn't be crazy," he whispered in her ear. "I wonder if it'd make you feel even less insane to be a part of it."

Alice tried to turn and look at him, finding herself held firmly in place. She squirmed helplessly against his grasp. "Damon, what are you talking about?" Her heart started to thump louder and harder against her chest.

"How many miles till Wonderland?" He sang in her ear. She was puzzled at first but quickly recognized it from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. She continued to squirm, not entirely sure where Damon's thought process was. "Oh how will you find your way?" He pet her hair before gently grasping her chin. Without hesitation he whipped her head to one side, snapping her neck, and letting her fall to the floor. "Oh how will you find your way…"


	6. Be Careful Not to Lose Your Head

06: Be Careful Not to Lose Your Head.

Her eyes opened to find the dingy, greyness of the institution. Her heart broke a little. She was back in the black leggings and grey t-shirt, hair in loose pigtails. She looked over and found one of the doctors harassing a girl in her room. She begged him to stop and Alice heard the impact of his hand on her face. She turned her back to the scene, humming softly to herself.

"Some of them want to use you, some of them want to get used by you. Some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused…"

" _Alice…"_

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard his voice. She swore it echoed through the room but no one else seemed to hear. Her heart thumped madly against her chest. She knew that voice.

" _Alice, do something."_

"I can't," she whimpered back. "I'm useless...I always was…"

" _Alice,"_ she melted into the voice, " _kill."_

Her lips parted slowly, pupils dilating. Something snapped deep within her. She leaped off the bed, tackling the man to the ground and punching him repeatedly in his face. Briefly she caught a glimpse of her own reflection. She watched her eyes darken, veins appearing beneath, and fangs slowly peeping over her bottom lip. She looked down at the doctor who was filled with fear and tore into his throat.

* * *

Alice shot up in her bed, panting and sweating. She looked around with panic, trying to solidify her reality. She was beginning to lose sight of what was real. Maybe she was crazy. It took her a moment but she shook it off and cracked her neck to free herself of the annoying pain she felt. As quickly as she relaxed, panic set back in; she remembered what had happened. She died. Damon snapped her neck. She let out a loud scream that echoed through the boarding house.

Stefan went running; Damon followed behind slower and much more amused. He met her eye and smirked at the shock all over her face. "You're in transition," Stefan told her. Her jaw dropped a little more. "You died with Damon's blood in your system and now you have to drink human blood to complete transition or you die…" Damon reveled in the look on her face.

"Get dressed, babydoll," he told her, fishing through her clothes for her. "You're completing your transition and clearly I have to take you shopping. You can't be a vampire with this wardrobe, it's pathetic."

"Damon, do you honestly think it's wise to take a new vampire around town?" Stefan argued. "Besides, you can't in the daylight anyways."

The elder brother coughed and pointed at Alice's hand. She held up her right hand where she and Stefan found a new ring with a magnificent blue stone sitting on her middle finger. "Bonnie works pretty fast when she doesn't have much of a choice for someone she feels guilt towards," he smirked, tossing Alice an outfit. "Wear that until we get something better. You can get blood all over that and then we'll get you cleaned up."

Stefan looked to his brother completely baffled. "You are not suggesting that she gets fixed on drinking human blood."

Damon looked confused. "Uh, duh? It's what vampires do."

"She can manage just fine on animal blood."

"And she'll be as wimpy and lame as you are. Not happening, Saint Stefan. This one's mine." He winked.

Alice flung herself out of bed, walking towards the bathroom with her clothes. "Sorry man," she told Stefan as she walked by, "I'm not lame."

* * *

"Damon did _what?_ " Elena asked with disbelief.

"He turned Alice into a vampire," Stefan sighed. "And he's going to get her hooked on human blood, turning basically into him."

"You don't know that, Stefan. She could have really good control."

He chuckled sardonically. "You didn't see the look on her face when she fed to finish her transition. Damon had compelled some poor person and threw her at Alice. The second the blood touched her lips it was game over. The look in her eyes will haunt me through my eternity."

"You said when a person is turned that their senses and emotions are heightened. What does that mean for Alice if she might have already been unstable?"

"It means she's going to be just as unhinged as Damon"

Her expression fell. "I should have just heard her out," she shook her head. "My dad was the one to send her away, basically. She didn't deserve this. It's going to destroy her."

"I'm not sure you know the girl then, Elena," he admitted. "She enjoyed it just like Damon does. He-he let her kill the girl and she did it."

"What?" She gasped.

"Alice had stopped on her own but Damon grabbed me. He looked at her and said ' _Alice, kill_ ' and she did without a second thought."

* * *

"I don't understand how Kate Beckinsale can fight in such tight leather," Alice complained, fiddling with her costume. Damon had forced her into being Selene from Underworld.

He flicked her head as they walked into the gym of the high school. "Shut up. You look sexy in leather; get over it."

Alice internally groaned. Her relationship with the elder Salvatore never ceased to confuse her. He kept jerking her around though she didn't mind the ride all that much. She wouldn't let herself get hurt over something stupid. She had an eternity now and she'd be even more damned if she let Damon Salvatore ruin that for her. "So, what? We're at a high school Halloween party for free candy?" She snickered. "Because I've never minded free candy."

"I actually need you to attempt in getting a necklace from Bonnie Bennett."

She made a face. "Bonnie Bennett and I have never been friends. There's no way in a frozen hell that she'd ever do anything for me."

"She made that daylight ring nice and quick for you," he smirked down at her. "So she didn't want you burning in the sun or run the risk of the girl who plead vampire to get a stake in her heart."

The ravenette fiddled with the silver ring on her middle finger. She noted that the stone was the same in Stefan and Damon's rings. "Okay so she doesn't want me dead thanks to all that pent up guilt. Still doesn't mean she's going to hand over some necklace to me."

"You're a clever little spitfire," he smirked and gently pushed her on. "You'll think of something kind of like that adorably emo story of how we met."

Her cheeks flamed pink and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Like you were gonna think of something, Prince Charming?"

* * *

Alice sighed, eye twitching slightly, as she stared at the sea of high school students. Stefan would have an aneurysm if he knew how many people she and Damon tore into earlier. It was the only thing keeping her from lashing out. She'd had her eyes on Bonnie for a while, trying to think of something to say. She saw even from across the gym the necklace she was supposed to acquire; the thing was gaudy and old. She gave up and marched towards the witch without a plan.

"Hey Bonnie," she spoke timidly.

"Alice," Bonnie breathed. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm-I'm hanging in there," she lied, putting on a facade. "I wanted to thank you for making the ring for me. I don't know what I would have done. I still don't really know what to do." She rubbed the back of her neck.

"You've been through so much; why would you hang around Damon Salvatore?"

She looked to Bonnie, forcing tears to her eyes. "He said he could help me find who killed my family. It was all I had."

Bonnie took pity on the ravenette and pulled her into a hug. "We'll help you get through this, Alice. It's going to be okay."

She sniffled and took a step back. "I-I think I'm gonna get some fresh air. I'm still not too sure how I feel." She shook her head.

The latter girl nodded and rubbed Alice's upper arm. "If you need me just call. You didn't deserve this."

The ravenette nodded and thanked her before slipping out of the building. She exhaled a sigh of relief and reached for the phone Damon had gotten her earlier when a branch snapped near her. She jumped and braced to attack, groaning when she saw Elena. "Alice," the brunette greeted with relief. "I'm so glad to see you're okay."

"Define 'okay'," she scoffed.

"I know what Damon did to you. It was wrong, Alice. It's okay to be mad. We'll help you get through this."

She chuckled darkly. "Oh, now you want to help me? When I've become a vampire? But nobody wanted to listen when I said a vampire killed my family? That's pretty rich, Elena."

"I didn't know vampires were real then; I'm so sorry, Alice."

Something in Alice snapped. Her eye twitched and she lashed out, slamming Elena by her throat into a school bus. "You know they're real now," she snarled, face changing. "I spent two years, nine months, and twenty two days in a mental institution because of this disgusting town. Now I'm going to tear it apart."

Elena was starting to lose consciousness, airflow through her throat being restricted. She was released suddenly and fell to the ground coughing. She looked up to see Damon with Alice over his shoulder, cursing profusely. "You should go," he told her flatly. "I got this."

She stared in horror up at him as she stood slowly. "You did this," she told him as he set down the ravenette when she calmed herself. "This is your fault."

"You confuse me for someone with remorse."

Instinctively, Elena's hand flew out and slapped him across the face. His head didn't even turn; he didn't react. Beside him, Alice seethed. She lunged for the brunette again but Damon swiftly caught her, putting her back over his shoulder. "People die around you. You killed and turned an innocent girl!"

"None of this matters to me. None of it."

"How could it not matter?" Elena argued. "If it didn't matter you wouldn't have turned Alice. You would have just killed her."

"You need to go home before I let her loose on you purposely." Begrudgingly, Elena stormed off and Damon set Alice down. "I told you to get a necklace from Bonnie, not choke out Elena," he teased her.

Alice smirked and reached into the top of her costume, pulling the gaudy necklace from her breasts. "You ask and I deliver." She handed him the necklace.

He chuckled as he took it. "Thought there was no way you could convince her."

"There really wasn't. But she took pity on me and hugged me. I slipped it right off her neck."

He put an arm around her shoulders, steering her towards his car. "I guess we'd better get out of here before she notices then."


	7. So Much to Gain, So Much to Lose

**A/N:** So thank you everyone that's followed/faved this story! It really makes me smile getting the emails cause I'm lame lol  
Special thanks to _HPuni101_ for leaving a review! I got the email this morning and it prompted me to keep writing.  
You're all wicked.  
xoxo  
Kuraki-chan

* * *

07: So Much to Gain, So Much to Lose.

Alice hummed pleasantly while she made herself hot chocolate. She was wearing visibly new clothes - stone washed blue skinny jeans that hugged her hips and legs well, and a black v-neck sweater that was just a pinch short enough to show her stomach (surprise, she had her navel pierced). She was barefoot, dark hair hanging in a limp ponytail on her shoulder. She twirled her daylight ring around her finger and ended up thinking about her little sister.

She thought about how the girl would be going on 18; another birthday she had to miss. She thought about the way her sister's dark brown hair bounced with her natural curls, how she fought to wear makeup, the way her flannels smelled like Bath and Body Works perfume and dirt. She wondered what her sister would think if she could see Alice now. Her heart broke a little.

The kettle started to whistle, snapping Alice from her thoughts. She poured the hot water and mixed in some milk when she heard a rush of wind like someone sneaking around the boarding house. She pretended not to notice and subtly stirred the hot chocolate in her black mug. She focused her hearing until she picked up on the quietest footfalls creeping up on her. Carefully she reached for at least a knife off the counter before turning around to swing.

Her wrist was caught and she fought back for a moment, ready to tear into whoever it was, when she recognized blonde hair. Damon and Stefan had ran downstairs when they heard the commotion and were surprised to see the interaction. "Nurse Branson!" Alice screeched when she realized who it was. She dropped the knife and hugged the blonde warmly. "I've been waiting for you just like you asked!"

Stefan blinked. He had just been surprised by the blonde vampire as well but didn't expect Alice to know her. "I'm glad you've been in good hands," Lexi told her with a smile. "Stefan is a long time friend of mine. I meant to surprise you since you didn't know who I really was but I see some things have changed for you as well." She took a step back and eyed the girl top to bottom. "Not that long back in Mystic Falls and you're already a vampire."

She looked back in time to see her friend give his brother a nasty glare to which he smirked in response. She turned back to Alice who grinned sheepishly. "People really aren't meant to leave this down unless they're dead in whatever sense they stumble across." She shrugged.

Lexi sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Forget that lame hot chocolate and put shoes on. I'm taking you out for a few hours." She turned to Damon disapprovingly. "I'm taking her out for a few hours," she demanded.

He shrugged and turned back towards upstairs. "Have fun with her then." He laughed as he walked.

* * *

"Today is Stefan's birthday," Lexi told the ravenette with a smile. Alice nodded, lightly stirring the latte she had with a spoon. She nodded slowly, sipping her own coffee without taking her eyes off the girl. "So, you and Damon." Alice groaned and she laughed. "Well you didn't want to talk about Stefan!"

"Stefan's just so brooding," she scrunched up her nose. "And those eyebrows! Does Elena not look at those things? Does she not want to tweeze them?"

Lexi laughed again. "Okay, so Stefan's got wild eyebrows and that whole emo thing going on. But Damon? Really? How did that even happen?"

Alice shrugged. "The first night I came back; Zach Salvatore offered me a home at the Boarding House. He told me Stefan would be there and that he had some stuff to deal with. I heard someone there and went to see if it was Stefan. I met Damon instead and we talked."

She nearly choked on her coffee. "You talked? With Damon Salvatore?"

The ravenette nodded. "One stranger to another. I told him about my family and why I was put away for it. He told me I wasn't crazy; that he believed me. I was about to lose my freaking shit, Lexi." She almost called her Nurse Branson. "Except when I turned around with glee I found out why he believed me."

"He attacked you?" Lexi swore she'd shove her foot up his ass.

"He obviously didn't want me dead from the start because when I woke up I had no marks and he had tried to compel the memory away. The crystal you gave me worked though; he couldn't get in my head." She smiled and pulled the necklace from beneath her shirt. "He's just kind of kept me around since." She shrugged.

"Then how did you end up getting turned? Was there some sort of accident?"

She laughed dryly and rubbed the back of her neck. "Uhh...define 'accident'," she grinned toothily.

"What the fuck did he do to you? So help me god, Alice, I will shove my foot so far up his ass he'll taste it."

"Relax," she laughed. "I mean, I can't say it wasn't my own stupidity. "I gave him a lengthy leash, I'm a dumbass, I've been told." She rolled her eyes. "I chose to be selfish and indulge in his whims. When he was left without his daylight ring for a bit I was stuck in the house with him and we got wasted. And I mean _wasted._ Like I'm pretty sure if he didn't kill me I would have had alcohol poisoning." She chuckled. Lexi's face demanded she continue and she sighed. "I had hit my head earlier that day and was bleeding pretty bad so Damon gave me his blood to heal me. Then we got wasted and he did it for shits and giggles, bit me, and snapped my neck." She shrugged.

"How are you so nonchalant about this?" Lexi questioned with concern. "All Damon's put you through after what you've already seen and you're just okay with it?"

"It's weird, Lexi. Like, really weird. Sometimes it scares me but then he shows up and it just goes away. He makes me feel alive like Dev did."

"Please do _not_ compare Damon Salvatore to your little sister."

"I'm not playing around though, Lexi! Dev used to take me out of my comfort zone. She made me feel good about myself. She made me want to fight because I had something worth protecting. When I lost her I lost all of that until I met Damon. He broke whatever restraints I had left holding me back and made me feel wild again. Being around him makes me feel normal."

"Tearing into people's' throats until their hearts stop beating feels normal to you?" She saw the girl's face and sighed. "I'm sorry, Allie. I just don't want to see you in a downward spiral like that. Being a new vampire is awful because you have to adjust to the senses and emotions and hunger. You've already been through so much in your life and I-" She stopped abruptly, remembering all the things Stefan had told her long ago about his human life with Damon. She caught the scar of a cigarette burn on Alice's hand.

" _Everyone always called Damon irresponsible and cowardly. I don't think he knows that I know this but one Thanksgiving our father got pissed and burned him with his cigarette."_

Lexi remembered all the horrible things the doctors had actually written on Alice's charts about her mindset and personality; _irresponsible, afraid, disoriented, signs of abuse, dissociative, manipulative, stubborn, mouthy_.

" _How'd you get that scar on your hand, sweetheart?"_ She had asked Alice the first day they met. She remembered the way Alice fidgeted in her chair.

" _My dad didn't really care for me as much as he did his smokes."_

"You're doing that thing again," the ravenette's sigh broke her thoughts. "The thing where you realize some kind of distinct connection and this one seems to disturb you."

"Listen," the blonde told her sternly, concern in her eyes, "I do understand why you're so lax about the whole vampire thing in general; I did find out that the Monrovia family is notorious vampire sympathizers."

"What's that mean?"

"That they've been around a long time and have worked closely and well with vampires, often seeming to betray their own human race. Some were like born to be vampires, it was...strange."

Alice rubbed her face. "Then why would a vampire want to kill my family?"

Lexi really didn't want to tell her. She wanted to get to the bottom of it all first but trusted Damon's intentions even less. She needed to tell Alice or she might never know. "There unfortunately is one person who would know the most," she bit the inside of her cheek. "She's had a lot of run-ins with the Monrovias over the centuries. But, Alice, please listen to me very carefully and very calmly; Devora is not dead."

She'd rather have been staked. " _What?_ " Her voice cracked. Her grip on the mug nearly shattered the cup.

"They were never going to tell you in the institution," Lexi's voice started to break. "I found out just after you were released because they sealed it. Devora's body was never recovered from your house. You were taken to the Gilberts' and only your mother and father's bodies were found. Devora's blood was on the closet floor but they never found her."

Alice's whole world started to shatter around her. Suddenly she could hear the voices of each person in the small cafe. She could hear each varying heartbeat. She could smell their blood even over the sweets. Her breathing became ragged. She stood quickly, legs shaking. "I-I have to go…"

And she ran.

* * *

Damon found her at the Grill hours later. She sat at the bar as alone as she possibly could with all the people and loud music. She hung her head over a glass of vodka and coke on the rocks. He walked up to her and pat her head, sitting in the stool beside her. "Didn't peg you for a vodka girl."

She took a sip of her drink and shrugged. "This is my favorite. Before everything happened my sister and I were left home alone one weekend. We got ballsy and broke into our parents' liquor cabinet. We tried a shot straight and laughed at each other's faces." She smiled sadly, swirling the drink in the cup. "She went to the fridge and asked what you're supposed to make those mixed drinks out of. Our mom drank a lot of coke so we had plenty; we settled on that. She dropped ice cubes in to watch it fizz." She chuckled. "Whenever we left home alone we would each have a small glass with our pizza for dinner and watch something stupid on TV."

"So why do you look twice as miserable and twice as drunk?" He teased her.

"I've been here a while. This is my thirteenth glass. Lucky number." She chuckled darkly and finished the glass.

"I take it that conversation with Lexi didn't go so well then."

"My little sister is alive."

Even Damon couldn't believe the absurdity of that statement. "You want to try that one again?"

"Turns out that after I was removed from the house they got my parents' mangled bodies and my sister's blood in the closet I hid her in but no sister. Dev is still alive and I don't know if she was taken by that cunt." He snickered at the vulgarity. "It was perfectly peaceful for me here to think before the party brigade burst in." She rubbed her temples.

Damon laughed half apologetically. "My bad. My attempt at annoying Stefan on his birthday."

Alice groaned and the bartender brought her another vodka and coke and Damon a glass of bourbon. "God you're such a dick."

He shrugged, sipping his drink. "What'd you say your sister's name was?"

"I called her Dev. Her name was - apparently _is_ \- Devora. Devora Monrovia."

Damon froze with the glass at his lips. He knew that name; he'd heard it before in a story Katherine had told him. He took their glasses and set them down, standing and patting her head. "Okay, come on. Time for some fresh air."

She threw her head back dramatically and stared up at him. He finally noticed how smeared and worn her eyeliner and mascara had become. After a moment she stood, deciding it was a better idea than staying amidst a full crowd of rowdy assholes. She followed him outside and closed her eyes when the cool air hit her skin. It did make her feel a little better. She opened her eyes and found Damon right up in her personal space. He backed her slowly against a wall.

"Damon-" she got out before he quickly cut her off.

He kissed her in a way that nearly made her legs give out beneath her. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. She could taste the bourbon on his lips as much as he could taste the vodka on hers. The chill of the air started to feel more brisk as her temperature skyrocketed beneath his touch. She started to slip and he grabbed her by the hips, holding her firmly against him. Her hands had found their way to his hair.

He bit her lip and let go, smirking down at her. "I guess she is good at being my girlfriend."

Alice's face flushed more than it already had. "Thought I was only your pretend girlfriend."

His eyes flicked briefly to a drunken couple stumbling their way towards them then back at her playfully. He winked at her. "Maybe you've moved up in the world."

She used the brick wall for support when he walked over to the drunken couple. She could tell he was compelling them but why? The guy was tossed to her suddenly, dazed and confused but scared nevertheless. Her eyes widened and she thought of Lexi. She had escaped the cafe earlier when she felt overwhelmed and the alcohol and thought of her sister kept her grounded for a while at the bar. She wasn't about to let her emotions dictate her tearing into people. She'd do it for food and fun. Not stress and depression. That's how she would downward spiral and shut it off.

"Alice." She looked at Damon with pleading eyes, seeing the girl's blood dripping off his chin. He smirked, showing his fangs. " _Kill._ "

Instantaneously her face changed, veins appearing beneath her darkened eyes. Her fangs extended and she dug into the boyfriend mercilessly. She felt him struggle beneath her, begging for his life. She held him down with ease, listening as his breathing became ragged and heart erratic. She could hear Damon telling the girl something, compelling her further, before he started to laugh. Only when Alice couldn't hear any sound coming from her victim did she let him drop.

"That's my babydoll."

* * *

"Alice!" She turned at the sound of Lexi's voice in her barstool and offered the blonde a half smile and a seat beside her. "Alice, I'm so sorry about earlier."

The ravenette shrugged, sipping at her vodka and coke. "It's alright, Lexi." Still wanted to call her Nurse Branson. "I appreciate you telling me. It was just a lot to handle."

"I felt so bad that Stefan and I did some more research into it. It'll be harder to track the one vampire that committed the crime, but with Dev being alive still we can look for her."

"Do you think that bitch took her?"

"It's a strong assumption, yes. The only other one is that Dev tried to play dead and ran but-"

"But she would have known I was still hidden in the house."

Lexi nodded. "And she would have gotten you and help. So if we can find Dev it should lead us to who killed your parents and took her. As far as the police are concerned she's just a cold case missing person but we have more resources than them." She smiled. She noticed the difference in Alice's attitude and it put her off a little. "Alice, sweetheart, are you sure you're alright?"

The raven haired vampire nodded. "I've just been stress drinking is all."

"And by any chance did Damon catch up to you today?"

She nodded again with a small smile. "Yeah, we talked and he took me outside for some fresh air."

Lexi didn't miss the small, dark stain on the collar of her shirt. She hoped it was something else because it was a black shirt. "Damon Salvatore's never really been one for words."

"No, he's not." She laughed a little. "But somehow he still makes everything seem alright. And in his own weird way it's him trying because he cares. He gives some kind of a damn about me at least for right now."

She could see the light in the girl's grey eyes whenever she talked about the elder Salvatore. It was a dark and morbid light, but it was a light that she'd always hoped to see in Alice's eyes. Damon had been acting differently lately as well, Lexi had noticed. Maybe everything he'd done really was for love. "Maybe you will be the one to break Katherine Pierce's spell," she smiled at the ravenette, patting her hand comfortingly. Her smile seemed sad, however. She still had more news to bear. "Alice...I'm afraid that you might have been sired to Damon when you were turned."

Her lips parted, eyes wide as she stared at the blonde. "What the hell does that even mean?"

"What's what mean?"

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Damon crept up behind her. She froze, staring at Lexi; she knew he was standing behind her. "What are you really doing in Mystic Falls, Damon?" the blonde demanded quickly.

"Have you tried the brittle?" Damon teased, wrapping his arms around Alice's waist. "It wins awards."

"Cut the crap." She glared at him.

"Okay," he rolled his eyes. "I have a diabolical master plan."

"What is it?"

"Well if I told you it wouldn't be very _diabolical_ now would it?" Even Alice snickered a little.

"What's going on?" the ravenette asked absentmindedly when she saw Sheriff Forbes and a couple officers walk in. She looked past Lexi when the blonde turned around and gasped; the girl Damon had left alive was with the cops. She watched the girl's slender, still bloody, finger point in their direction. Her heart pounded in her ears. She tried to get up to run but Damon held her firmly in place.

Alice watched Sheriff Forbes come up and nod at Damon. He lifted her off the seat, pulling her away, but she still saw the officers inject Lexi with vervain. Alice saw her go down; they had locked eyes until Lexi's closed and she was dragged away. Damon brought her into the back alley and set her on her feet where she exploded. She balled all her anger up into her right fist and slammed it into his chest. He was surprised that she knocked him back a few feet.

"What the fuck was that?!" She yelled at him. If she listened close she could hear Stefan and Elena watching Lexi get dragged away.

"It's part of the plan," he replied simply and vaguely, brushing himself off where she had hit him.

Alice snarled and balled another fist full of wrath, aiming that time for his face. His eyes widened when his head turned. "She was going to help me Dev!" She cried, tears flowing down her pale face.

Damon snapped and held her against the wall by her throat. "She was never going to be able to help you find who killed your family."

She thrashed against him and he moved so she was pinned by her arms to the wall. "How the hell would you even know that? None of us will if we don't get her back!"

"The only person who could possibly help you had a best friend with the same name as your sister."

Her eyes widened and body froze beneath him. "Who…?"

"Katherine."

It was so silent at the mention of her name that Alice could hear the stake being driven through Lexi's heart.


	8. Some of Them Want to Get Used by You

**A/N:** I'm actually really amused and excited right now because my fiance has been using my phone so I didn't get notified that I had three new reviews.  
I went to go post this chapter and saw them.  
So thank you very much _Samcoo 12_ and _Kitten_!  
I too have never been very fond of Stefan (or Elena for a while) so you might notice some Stefan hating going on if you read between the lines as the story progresses LOL  
I'm actually going episode by episode to get this just right so I'm glad you're all enjoying it.  
xoxo  
Kuraki~

* * *

08: Some of Them Want to Get Used By You.

" _Miss Pierce," Elizabeth drawled with disdain. "What are you doing out so late?"_

" _I could ask the same of you, Miss Monrovia," Katherine quipped with venom._

" _I'm almost home from a day's work of delivering herbs. I'll be on my way if you don't mind." She went to move past Katherine but the brunette got back in her way._

" _You're awfully close with the Salvatores," the mused, circling the ravenette. "Damon talks a lot about you and those doll like features of yours. Once he even wondered if you would give up mortality as easily as he. Don't play coy, darling, we both know what each other is. I've met more than one Monrovia in my time."_

" _Your best friend was one of us, was she not? A woman named Devora? The woman who gave her life to Klaus Mikaelson for you?"_

 _Katherine scowled and grabbed her painfully by her long hair. "You will not speak to me as if you know my life."_

" _But that's the funny thing," Elizabeth smirked. "I do. You see, my family has been following you since Devora. You got one of us killed. We decided then on vengeance."_

 _Katherine ripped the necklace off her neck and threw her to the ground. "There's nothing your pitiful family of magicless hacks can do to me. I will be taking this though; it'll work nicely for what I need Emily to do. Such a shame your life ends so quickly and Damon's is only just beginning."_

" _You will not touch him," the ravenette growled._

 _Katherine grabbed her by the throat, holding her off the ground as her face changed. "You won't be able to protect him from me, little Liza."_

* * *

Alice shot up in her bed screaming when Katherine tore into her ancestor's throat. Her hair was wild and sweat pooled on her forehead and the back of her neck. She heard Damon yelling, cursing profoundly. Her feet hit the floor and she ran her disheveled self down to his room. "The fucking necklace is gone!" He shouted. "Vanished!" He threw a glass at a wall and it shattered. "I'm really starting to hate witches."

She took a breath, running her hands through her knotted hair. "I don't know if it matters or not but I just woke up from a wonderfully vivid nightmare about the necklace starring Elizabeth and Katherine."

He paused his tantrum, still seething, and listened to her tell him about her nightmare. When she finished speaking he waited for her to question Katherine's friend Devora. He could see the look in her eyes screaming that she wanted to but instead she seemed to focus on the other task at hand. He grabbed his leather jacket off a chair and kissed her forehead. "I'll be back later. I'll figure it out." He told her before vanishing.

With a heavy sigh Alice returned to her room. She brushed her wild hair and tied it into a braid on her right side. She sat back on her bed and took out her sketchbook to draw. She didn't look up when Stefan appeared in her doorway. "I'm sorry about Lexi," she told him softly as she drew. "I didn't know he was going to do something so stupid."

Stefan nodded and walked in cautiously. She nodded at him to sit on the edge of her bed if he was going to talk. He did and sighed. "I'd like to give you my condolences as well because I know Lexi also meant a lot to you but I'm not even sure you need it. Do you feel alright, Alice?"

She remained fixated on her drawing. "I suppose you're right," she admitted quietly. "Death has never really phased me though, you know. After my family - _my parents_ \- I was fixated on finding the truth, not that I was an orphan. It never really clicked that my parents were dead. Only that I had to keep moving. Though I suppose I've been extra socipathic lately. I'm not hurt by Lexi's death and I'm sure it'd be more correct for me to be but with Damon my outlook was the norm; just keep going. It doesn't matter who's dead at your feet or how, just _go._ You're still alive. _Go._ "

Stefan's heart broke for the girl. Lexi had told him - even showed him her records - about her past, her history. She was just like Damon, like a mirror image. Finding out her little sister was alive must have only further tipped that scale. "Damon has no regard for human life," he told her solemnly. "He enjoys inflicting pain. He thinks he doesn't deserve something and he ruins it. What he's doing is wrong, Alice. It's important to never stop caring no matter what happens. I know there's good in you. Why won't you let people see it?"

Alice stared down at her detailed drawing of a massive crow. "Because when people see good they expect it," she replied with sorrow deep in her words. "And I don't want to live up to anyone's expectations. The only one I can count on is me."

"Do you actually believe that what you have with Damon is real?"

When she didn't answer he stood to leave. "He wants to care," she told him, getting him to stop. "I want to care. But we both run away from it. Lexi had told me she thinks I might be sired to him." She paused, biting back tears before looking up at him. "I wanted it to be real."

Stefan felt pity for her. He was at a loss for words. "I'll look into it, Alice."

* * *

She heard the brothers arguing later that night. She placed her sketchbook on her bed delicately, the image of the crow just about finished in glorious detail. She crept silently down the hall and eavesdropped outside the door. Stefan was hounding Damon about what he knew about the necklace, why he wanted it so badly. Damon kept beating around the bush. She wondered if it was because it had to do with why Katherine stole it from Elizabeth or if it was because it had been Elizabeth's. She heard Stefan accuse his brother of threatening Bonnie.

"The necklace freaked her out so she threw it in a field," he continued.

She could feel the shock and rage that spiked in Damon.

"Damon, you need to get over Katherine. What we felt for her wasn't real; she compelled us, she killed Elizabeth Monrovia!"

"Oh no, Stefan," Damon argued. "We are not taking that on tonight."

"What do you want with Katherine's crystal?"

"It was Liza's first!" He erupted. "The antique iron setting and amber stone. "It was her damn birthstone - her birthday present from me the year before. Katherine stole it off her neck the night she killed Liza."

"For what?"

"Protection. I'm gonna bring her back."

Alice's breath caught in her throat. If she was the woman who killed her ancestor, why would she help or know anything about the murder of her parents? She heard a frantic phone call from Elena to Stefan; the crystal had come back and a seance helped possess Bonnie. Emily had taken her and the stone to Fell's Church. She said she was going to destroy the crystal. Without hesitation Alice zoomed to her room to put on boots and leaped out the window, sprinting to the church.

Damon and Stefan both heard her finally when she reacted. They ran to her room and found her already gone, window wide open. Damon didn't miss the drawing still on her bed.

* * *

"Emily!" Alice called when she reached the spell circle. "That's your name, right? Emily Bennett?"

Bonnie/Emily turned to face her. At first she was confused. "Elizabeth Monrovia? No, you must be her descendant after what Katherine did."

"I am; my name is Alice Monrovia. Emily I need that crystal, please. It's the only way I've found so far that I'll find who killed my parents; who might still apparently have my baby sister. Please, Emily!" She pleaded.

Pity crossed the witch's face. "I am sorry to disappoint, child, but it really isn't."

"Yes it is!" The ravenette argued. "Damon can bring Katherine back and she'll know!"

"We had a deal, Emily," came Damon on the other side of the circle.

"Things are different now," she replied. "I need to protect my family."

" _I_ protected your family! You owe me!"

Emily turned back to Alice. "Child, if Katherine was trapped in that tomb all this time, can you tell me how she would possibly know anything that's happened to your family in this day and age?" With the shock on the ravenette's face she returned to Damon. "With one comes all, Damon. All 27 vampires in that tomb. I won't let that happen."

"I don't care about them!" He argued. "I just want Katherine!"

"I can't free them. I won't." She started chanting, fire preventing the two from getting closer.

Alice took a step back with the realization that she had been following Damon absolutely blindly. How would someone trapped in a tomb for over a century know anything about a murder barely five years ago? Was that what it meant to be sired to someone, blindly following them through Hell? She hadn't noticed Stefan and Elena come up. Only the end of the spell and the burst of flames signifying the destruction of the necklace brought her back to reality. She blinked, finally seeing everything around her just in time to see Damon tear into Bonnie's jugular.

Her lips parted, breath coming out shaky and ragged. Shard of amber crystal littered the ground around her feet. She looked to Damon, his eyes cold and void of emotion.

"Katherine never compelled me," he admitted. "I knew everything every step of the way. It was real for me."

Alice felt a heavy weight on her chest.

"I'll leave town, now."

* * *

"You lied to me," Alice spoke in a soft voice. She stood in the doorway of Damon's room on her side, leaning against the frame.

He didn't look at her as he went through his things. He didn't respond.

"I probably should have expected it though, right?" She laughed a little. "It got me wondering though how you got past my crystal's protection. Then I realized that you weren't trying to screw with my head ever. You never actually, really _lied._ You worded things how you needed to without being fully honest but not lying about it either."

"The constant talking is not the best way to say goodbye," he finally spoke, still not looking at her. "Unless you've come to irritate me one last time."

He heard her laugh and shift so he rolled his eyes and finally looked at her. He stopped in his tracks when she smiled up at him, bag slung over her shoulder. "Who would have figured I could have an epiphany _and_ pack faster than you? Figured I'd keep irritating you and tag along like a tumor." She laughed.

He was bewildered the longer he stared at her all dressed, packed, and ready to go. "Why?" He finally choked out. "Aren't your answers in this town?"

"Yeah, they were. I found some and I found the devil in the details." She smiled up at him. "I'm done killing myself over this case. My parents are dead. Vampires are real. My sister is out there somewhere under who knows what conditions. I've got a long time to be able to find the truth and the capability now to kill the bitch."

She had closed her eyes and snickered; she didn't notice how close Damon had gotten until he hugged her tightly. She was surprised at first before wrapping her tiny arms back around him and smiling. She could smell his expensive bourbon and leather. He could smell her vodka and cherry blossom perfume. She felt him lean his chin on the top of her head. Everything was going so smoothly until his phone pinged with a new message.

There was a new vampire in town killing people.


	9. Everybody's Looking for Something

09: Everybody's Looking for Something.

"That's impossible," Stefan argued the 'new vampire' problem.

"Obviously not," Damon retorted.

"Then who could it be? I can't leave if some new vampire is attacking the town." He looked protectively to Elena.

Damon and Alice exchanged grins. It was starting to alarm Stefan and Elena how alike they'd become. "Oh good," Alice beamed. "Then we're on the same page."

"We weren't going anywhere," Damon clarified with a smirk. "Not until this guy is taken care of at least."

"How are we supposed to figure out who it is?" Elena questioned.

Damon brought up the Gilbert device and explained what it did to the ravenette beside him. She sweatdropped. "Do you realize the idiocy of that when three of us are vampires?"

He grinned at Elena. "No," Stefan said firmly. While they argued, the two girls locked eyes. They seemed to have their own silent conversation.

"I don't mind," the brunette spoke up, interrupting them. "I'll do it."

"Elena, it's too dangerous," the younger Salvatore protested.

"Let the adults handle this, Stefan," Damon teased.

"I'm older than both of the girls!" He argued. "Combined!"

* * *

Elena walked around with the compass in her hand until it started spinning wildly. She grabbed her phone and called Damon. "Alright, what do I do now?"

"Just wait," he told her. "We'll be there in a minute."

He hung up and she put her phone back in her pocket. Not a second after they both appeared in front of her, making her jump. Damon snatched the compass from Elena's hand and looked at both of them sternly. "Both of you stay put. Right here. Got it?" He turned to Alice specifically. "Got it?"

She frowned with a pout, eye twitching subtly, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don't know why you bother dragging me along then." She was forced to stay where she was as she watched him walk off to the warehouse.

Moments after he entered they heard gunfire. Elena started to panic and ran towards the warehouse. Alice snatched her up quickly and forced her to stay. "We have to do something, Alice!" She pleaded. "If you won't let me then you've got to!"

She snarled. "I know, Elena, but _I can't._ He said stay put. Both of us." She shook her head, running her hands through her hair. There were more sounds of struggle and bullets. Ice cold washed over her and everything around her stopped. She fell into a trance again. That time, however, Elena watched her eyes change color. She recognized them immediately as Damon's ice blue.

Alice could feel the wooden bullets. She could see the inside of the warehouse. Her vision was blurred but she could make out Logan Fell's face and a gun in his hands. As she returned to reality the invisible leash keeping her in that one spot had snapped. Elena could see it in her eyes. She smiled. "Go get him."

"You'll stay right here?" She confirmed. Elena nodded quickly and Alice reached into her boots, pulling out two double edged throwing knives. The girls shared a nod and Alice took off into the warehouse.

Her entry took Logan off guard. She whipped one of her knives at his hand with the gun, knocking it from his hand and slicing his wrist. The other she hurled at his leg; it embedded itself deep in his flesh. Logan ripped the blade from his leg and charged at her. She ducked and he leaped right over her. She snickered and jumped on his shoulders, choking him tightly with her thighs. He started to fall and she flipped him over her, slamming him onto the concrete floor. He got back up and tried to strike her but she grabbed his hand and swung him into a wall. Fearful, Logan fled out the nearest door.

Alice sprinted over to Damon and started pulling each of the wooden bullets out of him. He groaned in pain. "What the actual fuck was that?"

Her eyebrow twitched and she made her next pull more painful. "That was me saving your ass," she replied with a smile as she continued to purposely cause him more pain.

He looked to the throwing knives discarded on the floor. "When'd you get those?"

"Always had them," she replied quietly. "Dev gave them to me for my sixteenth birthday. I used to be a scary bitch with a crossbow too." She helped him up (he was sure to grab her knives for her) and outside to Elena.

The brunette, without thinking, hugged Alice with relief when she walked up. She didn't notice the way Alice froze and tensed up. Her eye twitched. Damon started to laugh. "I'm so glad you're both alright. What happened? You like, fell into a trance, your eyes changed color, and then you changed your mind about staying here."

Alice shrugged, still brushing off the cooties from the hug. "It's happened once before when Stefan vervained him and locked him in the basement."

"What color did her eyes change to?" Damon questioned.

Elena looked between the two before stopping on Damon. "Yours. Almost exact."

* * *

Alice tried to push the thoughts of her random trances to the back burner. She wafted through Mystic Falls High in search of Logan Fell on some lame career night or something. She was almost glad she missed out on the last two years of high school. She couldn't help but wonder why she tranced when she did and why, so far, it only seemed to connect her to Damon if he was in trouble.

She finally caught sight of the "Scumfell" as she heard he was dubbed. She followed him around most of the night and ruined his presentations without being noticed. When he'd finally had enough she waved and skipped out of the gym. He followed her into the night, ready to unload a clip of wooden bullets into her.

"I remember you," he told her as they circled one another.

"Good," she replied arrogantly, flipping her long hair over her shoulder.

Logan looked her up and down with a scowl. She wore tight, dark jeans, a long sleeve maroon belly shirt, black and bloodstained combat boots, and a belly button piercing with a red stone hanging off. He shook his head. "The girl who couldn't stop crying vampire finally free from her padded room and becomes the thing she went insane for."

She scoffed and smirked. "Better than the man that denied when he knew vampires were real just to be turned into one. I find that pretty humorous."

"Salvatore wouldn't tell me; how do you walk in the sun?"

"Well if he wouldn't tell you what makes you think I will? Who turned you?"

"It was Damon that turned you, wasn't it?" He retorted, avoiding her question. "I can see how disgustingly alike you two are."

"Then you really should have answered my lady's question."

Logan turned and got clocked upside the head by a tire iron from Damon. Alice held him down with her boot until Damon jacked him against a car. "Who turned you?"

"I don't know!" He shouted with fear.

"This tire iron can take your head clean off. Is that your final answer?"

"How can you side with them?"

"I don't side with anyone. You pissed me off. I want you dead. Who turned you?"

"I don't know!"

"Well," Alice snickered in his ear, "then you're screwed."

"Wait, wait! I do know!"

"You're lying," Damon sang, playing with the tire iron.

"You think you're the only one that wants to get into the tomb beneath the old church?" The two raven haired vampires exchanged looks. "There's another way to break the spell." Alice noticed Sheriff Forbes and the cops rolling up and tugged Damon's sleeve. "We can help you," Fell continued. "Meet me at the old church."

"Alice," Damon spoke warning.

She groaned and started to walk off, waving her hand. "Yeah, yeah, big scary vampire. Little, frail, human Alice ran and hid so her big, sexy boyfriend could take him down. Not stupid."

He couldn't help but chuckle at the 'big, sexy boyfriend' comment. "Take me down and make it look real." He told Logan.

* * *

"I'm beginning to think taking me to creepy places in the middle of the night to waste my time is your idea of a date," Alice commented with a laugh as they waited at the old church for Logan Fell.

He opened his mouth to tease her back when his phone rang. Sheriff Forbes thanked him for killing Logan. His phone slipped from his hand; Alice's jaw was dropped.

"You have got to be blowing me," she finally said. Her phone began to ring suddenly in her pocket. She fished it out and made a face. "It's Elena."

"Alice," the girl sobbed on the other line, "I'm so sorry...I didn't know who else to call anymore…"

 _So you call me?_ She thought strangely. _It must be an emergency. Damn._

"I found a picture of Katherine in Stefan's room," she continued to sob. "I look just like her! I don't understand!"

"You look like Katherine?" She met eyes with Damon.

"Like a clone, Alice! We have the exact same face!"

She thought to the nightmare she recently had that Katherine guest starred in. Come to think of it, she didn't know how Elizabeth or Katherine looked and yet she had a dream about them both. She remembered being in Elizabeth's position, watching everything from her point of view. Something about Katherine's face was shadowed from her memory but she distinctly remembered volatile brown eyes almost as dark as the night. A chill ran down her spine. "Breathe, Elena. Where are you?"

Before Elena answered they heard the accident. They heard her scream, the thuds, the car flipping. The call dropped. Alice and Damon looked to one another before running off into the night.


	10. Travel the World and the Seven Seas

10: Travel the World and the Seven Seas.

When Elena opened her eyes and found herself in the backseat of Damon's Camaro she started to panic. Alice rolled her eyes from the passenger's seat, arms crossed over her chest. "Trust me, bitch tits, I ain't thrilled about this either."

"Bitch tits?" the brunette muttered with bewilderment. "What the hell is this?"

"A kidnapping," Alice replied flatly.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Quit being so melodramatic."

"She was unconscious from a car accident and you practically threw me in the car. That, by the eyes of the law, classifies as kidnapping. Remind me to get a whistle."

"Well the law isn't so clear cut when you're a vampire now is it?" He quipped back. She pursed her lips and stared out the window.

Elena watched the way Damon teased her, poking at her side until she looked at him. She cursed at him, resisting the urge to clock him because he was driving. He made a stupid comment and she moved her hand to slap him. Elena watched as he laughed and grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers and slamming their hands down on the center console. She was sure the force cracked the plastic inside. She noticed the way Alice kept playing with her hair with her free hand and frequently recrossed her legs different ways. No matter how many times she called him a jackass and he told her she was crazy they both smiled.

Elena eventually smiled too. They had fallen in love with each other.

* * *

"Really, Damon?" Alice chastised as they stared up at a sign that read 'Bree's Bar' in neon lights. "A dive bar? You really know the way to a woman's heart." She snickered.

Elena got out of the car and stretched her legs; she wasn't ecstatic about the bar. "I'm not old enough," she argued as Damon forced the other ravenette out of the car. "They're not going to let me in."

"By all consideration," he replied as he flung Alice over his shoulder, "Alice here is barely twenty. And stuck at that mind you. They'll let you both in." He ushered Elena inside with Alice pounding on his back. He only set her down when they entered the bar.

"No, no," Alice heard a woman drawl. "It can't be. Damon? My honey pie!" The woman came up, grabbed Damon's face and kissed him.

Elena snickered at Alice's expression. She looked ready to rip the woman's face off. Elena enjoyed seeing that side of Alice, jealous and protective of something. She knew the last time the raven haired girl cared about anyone so deeply it was her sister. She recalled once when Jeremy threw sand in Devora's face and hair, making her cry, and Alice got revenge by scaring him with a wolf mask. Vicky had teased Devora and gotten a fist in her face for it.

"Bree," Damon greeted, "this is my brother's girl, Elena. And the little spitfire to my left is Alice Monrovia."

Bree smiled at her, also acknowledging the green aura coming off of her. "A Monrovia; there's a name I haven't heard in some time. How'd he rope you in, sweetness?" She asked as she poured drinks for everyone.

Alice's face turned bright red. "Wh-what's that supposed to mean? I'm not roped in anywhere with anyone!"

Elena liked the way Damon laughed and wrapped an arm around her, keeping his other free to drink. They got into talking about the Katherine/Elizabeth's crystal and how if he didn't have it there was no way to break the spell on the tomb. He seemed discouraged but blew it off to drink. At one point, he turned to Alice and asked if she was as bad at darts as she is at pool. She laughed and Elena was confused.

"I hustled him at pool," Alice explained. "I told him I'd never played and sank three balls on my break. We were evenly matched but my dumbass scratched on the 8-ball." She laughed.

"A cute little thing like you hustled Damon Salvatore?" Bree questioned curiously. "I never thought I'd see the day. Tell me, sweetheart, what is your relationship with him? You two are adorably close."

Alice stuttered and sputtered at a loss for words. She felt Damon snake both of his arms around her abdomen. He put his head on her shoulder and grinned. "Alice is my girlfriend," he replied simply with a kiss on her cheek.

She swore she was going to pass out. Should she fangirl? Should she run the hell in the other direction? She wanted nothing more than to scream at the top of her lungs, really.

"And she's about to get her ass kicked at darts." Damon's voice snapped her from her thoughts. She blinked and stood, meeting eyes with Elena as he took her hand and dragged her away.

Elena saw her mouth ' _What the fuck?!_ ' to her as he pulled her along. She smiled and laughed.

* * *

The brisk cold hit Alice's skin and she smiled, breathing it in. Elena huffed and jumped a little when the ravenette surprised her. "Sounds like that conversation went shitty," she commented.

Elena sighed, leaning against the wall. "I had to call my aunt and just after I dealt with that Stefan called."

"I take it it didn't go well."

"He knew I looked like Katherine, Alice. This entire time. And he never said anything. What am I supposed to do about that?" She then realized who she was talking to and apologized.

Alice shook her head, dismissing the apology. "You're supposed to keep going," she told the brunette honestly. "So you and Katherine share the same face. Yeah, that adds plus like a zillion on the creep factor scale," Elena laughed a little, "but you're not supposed to run away with your tail between your legs. This chick is supposed to be all that and a bag of chips. Well let me tell you in my experience with chips that bag is half air just like she's half ego I'm sure." Elena laughed more. "You have the same face. I guarantee you your personalities are polar opposites and Stefan genuinely fell for you for _you_. He probably saw your face and it freaked him out so he did a double take, realized you're nothing like her, and boom fell in love." She shrugged.

Elena stared at her sympathetically. "Why are you trying so hard to get her back then if you're so in love with Damon?"

Alice's eyes widened as she stared forward. "Don't use words you don't understand."

"You know it's true though, don't you? That you and Damon love each other?"

Her expression fell. "Don't use words I don't understand."

"Alice anyone can see it. It's right in my face for god's sake today. I've been watching you two all day. He already called you his girlfriend!"

"Until his real girlfriend is released."

Elena surprised her by grabbing her by the upper arms. "Take your own advice, Alice. You don't even look like Katherine! You and Damon come from similar backgrounds. You get along. You understand each other. He probably saw you that first day and thought about killing you but he didn't so he kept coming back for more and boom, fell in love."

She shook her head, sadness creeping up in her grey eyes. "What Damon and I have is only temporary until Katherine comes back to take what's hers."

"Damon hasn't been hers in over a century if he ever even was. Why don't you fight for what's _yours_?"

She blinked, taking in the brunette's words. She realized the girl's hands were still on her but they had gone from forcing her attention to comforting her. She looked to the ground. "Katherine's so much older than me," she admitted with sorrow. "They have a history together. I wouldn't stand a chance."

"Their history is just that, Alice: history. What Damon's managed to form with you is something greater than that. I sometimes think it's even greater than what Stefan and I have."

"What are you talking about? How long have you contemplated this?"

Elena smiled at her. "It's been a while, Alice. We've all seen it. Damon fell in love with you even harder than he did Katherine just as you fell for him. You're both hopeless." She shook her head, still smiling. "So guarded and afraid and that's why you both lash out. Think about it, Alice." She rubbed the girl's arm before turning and heading inside.

The chime of the door rang through Alice's ears, the small bell on her crystal mimicking the noise. She stood in her spot unmoving with her jaw dropped. Was there even a sliver of a chance that Elena was right? That Damon fell for her harder than Katherine? If that was the case, why was he still trying to free Katherine? She ran her hands through her hair and let out a groan, realizing her heart was thumping madly. She delicately slipped a hand over her chest, feeling the pounding through her skin. With a sigh she reached for the door. A hand grabbed her mouth from behind and dragged her away.

* * *

"Where's Alice?" Damon questioned.

Elena looked behind her to the door with confusion. "She should have been right behind me. We were just talking outside."

The two ran outside and didn't find Alice. Damon could pick up the scent of her perfume and someone else. She was taken. Elena didn't miss the way he got heated when he made the connection. Someone came up behind Damon and struck him. Elena jumped back in fear as the two began to fight. The man dragged Damon down the street and she followed quietly where she found Alice hung upside down over a pile of wood shards soaked with gasoline.

"Got yourself a feisty girlfriend, man," the stranger told Damon, beating him down into the pile of wood. "Figured since you killed mine, I'd kill yours."

"And you are?" Damon struggled, the wood digging into his skin.

"Lexi's boyfriend, Lee," he replied coldly, flicking a lighter. "Got your lady strung up there with a vervain soaked rope that continues to shred the more she tries to fight. And she does love to fight."

Elena watched the way Damon got angry and fought against the pain to hit Lee. Lee pushed him back into the wood pile. Out of the blue something whizzed by Elena. All she could see was a black, red, and brown blur. The blur knocked the lighter from Lee's hand and flung him into a branch, impaling him. A snap came from Alice's rope and she screamed, starting to fall. Damon fought to catch her through the pain, surprised when the blur whizzed by his eyes with his raven haired damsel.

Alice was placed on her feet and the blur was gone. She stood where she was placed as Damon forced himself up. Elena questioned her if she was alright. A shaky hand touched her face as she stared after the blur. "I'd know that scent of Bath and Body Works and dirt anywhere," her voice came out in a whisper. "That was Dev…"


	11. It's Only the Beginning

11: It's Only the Beginning.

The next couple of weeks went by in a strained blur. Alice had holed herself up in her bedroom the same way she had when her family was first killed and she fought for the vampire theory. She knew it was her sister who saved them, her heightened sense of smell wouldn't let her deny it. She spent days tracking Devora down since the murders. She had started to drive herself mad again with articles and red thread littering her walls.

Damon was in his own downward spiral as he got closer and closer to getting into the tomb. After being betrayed by his brother and Elena he finally paid the recluse a visit.

Alice wouldn't notice whenever Stefan or Elena tried to check on her but the second Damon opened her door she spun on her heel. She stopped everything, papers falling from her hands, when she saw him. She saw the stress in his eyes, how lost and vacant they were. Something in him had broken. She pulled the glasses off of her nose and stepped up to him.

He didn't know she wore glasses. Somewhere amongst all that was going on his mind he thought she looked cute in them, the way the lenses made her eyes look bigger. She put a hand delicately on his face. He could see just how lost and stressed she had become as well. "Stefan and Elena lied to me," he finally told her, leaning into her hand. "I trusted them to help and they lied to me…"

She rubbed her thumb across his cheek, her blood starting to boil. She knew he didn't trust easily, neither did she and for good reasons. Stefan and Elena just proved those reasons. They had no intent on helping Damon and Alice. It was everyone for themselves. "I'll tear off their skin and eat their souls," she smiled up at him.

He laughed a little. "You've been so holed up in here I think you're out of shape."

"Why don't we go out and I can prove you wrong?"

* * *

Damon had caught her up on the way to the cemetery. By time they got there she was choking back her fury. They played him like a violin. When they arrived, Alice wafted through the shadows while Damon confronted them. They were just finishing digging up Giuseppe's grave and had found the journal they were looking for.

"Well what do you know," Damon taunted with anger as he approached them. "What a turn of events." He snarled when they looked at him with fear.

"I can't let you bring her back," Stefan told him firmly. "I'm sorry."

"So am I. For thinking that for even a second I could trust you."

"Oh. You're not capable of trust. The fact that you're here means that you read the journal and you were planning on doing this yourself."

"Of course I was going to do it by myself, because the only one I can count on is me! You made sure of that many years ago, Stefan. But you…" He looked to Elena. "You had me fooled. Even dragged Alice's name through it."

"Damon," she started to plead, "I-"

He held a hand up, knowing Alice was nearby, listening. "You actually told me that you were going to get Alice yourself. That you'd snap her out of her spiral and bring her back to the goal. Then you go on and attempt to destroy the journal I fucking need."

Out of the darkness Alice pounced. She grabbed Elena by the throat, holding her threateningly close against herself. "I'm gonna have to scrape my name off your tongue, Gilbert," she hissed in the brunette's ear. Stefan begged to let her go. "Give him the book or I'll snap her stupid neck."

"You won't kill her," Stefan told her. Alice scoffed. "Not because she means something to you because we know she doesn't," he quickly caught himself. "But because it won't satisfy you enough to just kill her."

She snapped her fingers. "Well shit Steffie," he winced at the nickname Damon usually called him, "you're right. I'll do one better!" She bit her wrist, forcing Elena to drink her blood. "Now hand over the book or I'll snap her neck and you'll have a vampire girlfriend. And last I heard, Elena wasn't as fond as the idea as I was."

"You won't do it," he still told her.

"I really wouldn't call her bluff," Damon rolled his eyes. "You should have seen the look on her face when I told her what you idiots did."

"She actually looked at you when you went to her?"

"She dropped everything - literally - the second I opened the door." He smirked.

"You really shouldn't have taken advantage of him while I was lost in Wonderland," Alice told him, still holding Elena dangerously. "I've been tracking Dev and when I find her she'll be just as eager to tear you limb from limb as me."

Begrudgingly, Stefan handed Damon the journal. Alice threw Elena to him with disgust. She and Damon vanished.

* * *

"Anna took Elena."

Behind her glasses, Alice rolled her eyes. On her bed, sifting through a pile of papers, Damon laughed. "Yeah, I got that from your 600 voicemails."

Stefan looked distressed. "All night long, every single street in town, I've been searching." He turned to Alice. "What if your blood hasn't passed out of her system?"

"Then at least you know you'll see her again," Damon told him with a smirk.

"Please," the green eyed brother nearly dropped to his knees, pleading. "What do you know? You were with Anna, you must know where she's staying. Just tell me where I can find her."

"Nope. You can go. Really."

"Really, really," Alice commented with a look of disgust. "We mean this as sincerely as possible-" she began.

"We hope Elena dies," Damon finished with a smirk.

Finally Stefan gave up and left the room. Alice sighed and shook her head, continuing reading what she had been at her desk. "So far the timeline I've got is the murder, she was seen in New Orleans a few months later, Boston almost a year after that, Los Angeles around her seventeenth birthday, and the last I've got is New York barely a year after that."

Damon looked at her over the papers in his hand. "And that was what, just over a year ago?"

She nodded. "A few months before my release. I just don't understand; Dev has never liked the cities."

He turned back to his pile of papers. He wasn't going to tell her that he was also in New York around the same time until he knew why it sounded so fishy.

* * *

Alice was lost in her thoughts about Dev in the cities on her way to the library. She was snapped from her thoughts when she ran directly into someone. She immediately started to apologize. "I'm such a dumbass, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Elizabeth?" The girl questioned.

Her eyes widened and she quickly realized the girl was also a vampire. She offered a small smile. "No, I'm her descendant - Alice Monrovia."

Twice the amount of surprise crossed her face. "Alice Monrovia…?" She pondered the name with familiarity. "Do you by any chance have a younger sister?"

Alice quickly pulled the girl aside, getting in her business. "What do you know about my little sister? She's been missing since my parents' murder!"

"It is you then," the girl breathed. She pushed Alice away and shook her head. "Devora's just fine and she loves you but that's all I can tell you right now." Before Alice could grab her she vanished.

Alice unhinged and darted to the library. She searched book after book and scoured the internet for anything. She found Mystic Falls' history back centuries. She found her family's history back centuries. She cross-referenced every lead on Dev she had. Everything she found lead her to the same name over and over again: _Katherine Pierce._

* * *

"The Bennetts are going to open the tomb," Damon told her.

"At what cost?" She replied without looking up from her paperwork.

"Does it matter? We have to get in there and get Katherine."

Alice sighed. "Damon, what if she isn't there? What if all this time was just one huge lie? I'm sorry but I have a lack of trust in everyone right now."

He pulled her away from the desk, kneeling in front of her chair. "Then put your trust in me, not them."

 _I just don't want to watch you get hurt by this bitch,_ she thought before begrudgingly going with him.

She'd already thought of an emergency contingency. The second they said the barrier was down Alice grabbed Elena before Damon could charge in. "Collateral," she shrugged. "A little insurance to ensure you won't royally fuck us."

"Alice, you don't need to do that," Stefan argued.

She'd already started dragging the brunette inside with her. "You've all proven to me why I do more than once. Let's go, bitch tits."

She didn't drag Elena in terribly far, not wanting to be in too deep herself. They waited at a spot near the entrance but out of sight while Damon ran around frantically for Katherine. She tuned out Elena's pleas before they gave her a migraine.

"Alice you don't have to do this," she begged. "You're better than Katherine!"

She leaned forward into Elena's face. "I know. And I'm gonna prove it."

" _Stefan, if you go in there you won't come out."_ Her ears heard Grandma Bennett say.

" _What did you do?"_

" _Opening the door didn't remove the seal. It just opened the door."_

" _What's the seal?"_

" _Some seals keep vampires from entering. This one keeps them from coming out."_

" _Elena's human. She can leave."_ Stefan realized. " _Alice and Katherine can't. Damon can't. You were never planning on breaking the spell, were you?"_

" _I told you, I protect my own. Elena can get out. That's all that matters."_

"Oh god no," the ravenette breathed. She acted quickly, shoving Elena towards the exit. "Go on, get the hell out of here! I've got to find Damon!"

"But you'll be trapped inside!" Elena argued.

She shrugged, tapping the wall impatiently. "At least I'll be trapped with his dumb ass too." She took off running through the caverns.

Elena ran out and Stefan quickly grabbed her. She started to panic, begging for Alice and Damon to be spared. She never wanted to hurt them. They had finally found each other.

"Damon!" Alice cried. Her voice echoed through the tomb. She searched every nook and cranny in the search of Damon or even at least Katherine, hoping he was right. Her boots thudded against the rock, dark hair bouncing as she sprinted. She started to lose hope when she heard him yell. She stopped in her tracks, able to feel the pain before she even saw him.

"She's not here," he said quietly and brokenly when Alice found him. " _She's not here!"_

She fell to her knees beside him while the realization overcame him. She abandoned him over two centuries ago and he only just realized it after fighting so hard for her. She held him and hushed him, humming like her mother did for her. Like she used to do when Dev would wake up from a nightmare. She heard Elena's footfalls come back and find them. She glared at the brunette, tears brimming in her own eyes.

"You both need to hurry," Elena told them softly, acknowledging what happened. "I got Bonnie and her grams to open the door for you two. Please."

"Damon," Alice cooed softly, petting his hair. He barely stirred, still lost in his mind. "Let's go, _les amoureux._ Please." She lifted his head so he'd look at her.

When Damon saw those grey eyes through the dark he forced himself to his feet. She took his hand, never looking away, and walked backwards through the caverns. He could feel the warmth of her hand, the coolness of the metal of her daylight ring. He saw the girl with the wild hair and every emotion in her eyes. He heard her heart still beating in her chest and focused on it. It calmed him.

As quickly as the ravenettes emerged from the tomb they were gone. Alice took one look at everybody and ran off with Damon. She got back to his car, snatching his keys from his pocket and barely having to force him into the passenger's seat. She got behind the wheel and adjusted the seat to her short legs. Normally Damon would have laughed.

"Tell me where to find Anna," she told him sternly as the Camaro roared to life. "I heard her slip in and get her mom. I ran into her earlier and didn't know who she was. She knows something, Damon. Where is she?"

"What are you gonna do, run her over?" He teased in a weak voice, staring out the window. "I don't want blood on my car."

"No," she nearly chuckled as she sped off. "I'm going to get our answers and tear both her and her mother to shreds."

Somehow Damon didn't mind her plan. He told her where to go, impressed that she could not only drive well but also drive standard. She whipped into a parking spot and stormed up to the door with Damon in tow. He noted the way fire burned in her grey eyes. He watched her boot make contact with the door, kicking it in. He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"Where is she?!" Alice demanded, slamming Anna by her throat against a wall. "Katherine, Devora, I don't fucking care but I suggest one of you starts fucking talking. I've had a really bad day."

Pearl started speaking quickly about Katherine's plan of escape years ago. How she'd been free the entire time. "She knew where you were, Damon," Anna told him painfully. "She didn't care."

Alice's grip on her throat tightened. "And I'm not about to care about you right now."

"Devora is my friend!" She spoke quickly, earning a surprised release. She caught her breath as Damon put a hand protectively on Alice's shoulder. "She's been traveling with Katherine for a few years now. Katherine turned her on her seventeenth birthday."

Alice started to shake. Damon held her, keeping her from falling. They both came to the same conclusion. The same horrifying realization. Katherine Pierce had screwed them both over equally. Her breathing became ragged. Alice ran outside as fast as she could. Damon didn't hesitate and chased after her.

"She's got my sister," she heaved, grasping chunks of her hair. "That dumb bitch was never in the tomb. She's been alive and she killed my parents and took my sister! God, she _turned_ my baby sister!" She started to hyperventilate.

Damon grabbed her and held her close to him, forcing her to breathe slowly. He felt her sob into his chest and pet her hair. He felt more betrayed than ever. More angry than ever. He swore he'd tear Katherine's heart out if she had one.


	12. Off with Her Head I Fear

12: Off with Her Head I Fear Is Everyone's Concern.

When Stefan opened the door to the boarding house he had to cover his nose. The overwhelming scent of blood and sex rushed him. He stepped inside and found the bodies of brown haired women scattered through the entrance hall. He was horrified and followed the scent of bourbon and vodka deeper into the house. Music pounded through the speakers. He found his way to the living room where the scene just got worse when he wasn't sure it could.

Damon and Alice sat on a chair, her on his lap, both scantily clad and covered in both fresh and dried blood. More brunettes were scattered at their feet. The bloodlust in both their eyes put him off but the look of ' _look what you made me do_ ' combined with a sick enjoyment in Alice's eyes made him want to run out the door. Something about that girl was twice as off as it normally was. She was running her nails up and down his bare chest singing to the music, staring Stefan down with a twisted smile.

" _Too high  
_ _Can't come down  
_ _It's in the air  
_ _And it's all around  
_ _Can you feel me now?_ "

She swigged a bottle of vodka and leaned her head on his shoulder. He played with a lock of her hair caked in dried blood. "You're worried about me." Damon commented with a chuckle. "That's nice. Don't be. There's no need. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? I spent the last 145 years with one goal: get in that tomb. I succeeded. Granted, Katherine wasn't in there to be rescued, but why dwell? You know, it's so liberating not having a master plan, because I can do whatever the hell I want. And it's even better with someone just as fun by my side instead of Buzzkill Bob."

Stefan had heard that it was concluded Katherine was the one to kill the Monrovia family and had Devora by her side, seventeen forever. He wasn't sure who was having a worse downward spiral. By the look in her eyes, he voted it was Alice. "Alice-"

"The old Alice can't come to the phone right now," she taunted him. "Why? Oh," she laughed, "because she's fucking dead." She grinned at him, dried blood caked at the corners of her lips.

He swallowed and turned to Damon. "There was a woman you may have known a few years back; Isobel in North Carolina at Duke University."

Alice threw her head back and groaned. "You want to discuss the women in my past right now?" Damon gestures to the girl on his lap. "Seriously?"

"You killed her," Stefan continued.

"What's your point?"

"I just-I just wanted to know if you remember anything about her."

Alice didn't miss the way her crystal burned against her skin. She was only in a black lace bra and one of Damon's button downs left open. The blue kyanite dangled just above her navel piercing growing warm with Stefan's lies. She leaned in and whispered in his ear. " _Il joue avec toi._ "

Stefan heard her and took a step back cautiously. "I didn't know you knew French, Alice."

Without moving away from Damon, her eyes wafted over to his brother dangerously. "My mom was _very_ French. Her maiden name was Lamaire. I'm quite fluent."

Damon smirked. "Sorry brother, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Think hard, it's important."

Stefan immediately regretted his words. Alice was behind him in a flash with one hand poised to snap his neck, the other to rip out his heart. Damon got in his face, patting his shoulder. "Nothing is important. Not anymore." He nodded to Alice and she begrudgingly released Stefan.

He made the mistake of looking back as he left. Damon didn't bother but Alice met his gaze with a look so intense it actually _scared_ Stefan.

* * *

Alaric nearly choked on his beer when he saw them walk into the Grill. They looked like some kind of gothic power couple. He watched as Damon paraded Alice around like a queen, the way she looked at him protectively. Damon met his gaze but quickly averted it and pulled Alice along. From what he heard that must have been the best outcome.

Sheriff Forbes approached the two raven haired vampires looking to see if Damon would be a part of the bachelor auction that night. "Unless of course you're off the market now," she commented with a smile to Alice.

Alice already had her sticky fingers in and out of Damon's wallet, slipping his credit card into her own pocket. She grinned toothily. "I think it would be a brilliant way to raise money."

Damon looked down at her curiously. He could feel some kind of motive coming off of her. "One thing," he requested. "Can you get information on someone for me? Alaric Saltzman, the history teacher. There's just something a little off about him, and I just - I just wanna make sure that the high school did their homework on this guy."

Sheriff Forbes smiled. "Of course."

When she was gone, Alice looked up at him. "Why are you looking into the new history teacher?"

"I do know the Isobel my brother was looking for," he told her. "She stalked me and begged me to turn her. I'm pretty sure she's connected to Saltzman and that's why he keeps giving me shit."

Alice snickered. "She sounds like a psycho."

He felt Alaric staring at them and grabbed her by the hips, pulling her towards him. "Good thing I've got just the right dose of crazy now."

* * *

"I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me," Alice sang while trying to zip her dark maroon dress. "I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams…" There was a knock at the door and she sighed, bouncing her way over to answer with her dress half unzipped. She frowned when she saw it was only Elena. "Buzzkill Beth is here!" She called to Damon.

"I was looking for Stefan," she admitted sheepishly.

"Well you've got better," Damon smirked, coming in with his shirt unbuttoned. Alice rolled her eyes because he still wasn't dressed. "Me."

Elena looked between the two of them with uncertainty. They both looked incredibly disheveled and barely put together. Damon's dress shirt was open and fairly wrinkled; Alice's dark maroon dress was held up by her hand on her chest. Her hair was left down in long, extravagant curls, eyes smoked out in silvery makeup and sending a chill down Elena's spine.

"Since you're here," Damon's voice broke her thoughts, "zip up Alice's dress for us before I rip it off her and we miss the auction." He winked.

Alice nodded and turned her back, moving her hair so Elena could zip her dress. When she did the dress fit her like a glove, hugging every curve and sticking firmly across her chest and off her shoulders. The cord with the crystal stood out against the pale skin of her chest but dipped beneath the dress between her breasts snuggly. "So I found out who my birth mother is."

Alice started to laugh. "You're adopted? Oh my bad I must have missed that memo or the jokes would have started a long time ago."

Damon shrugged and Alice started to button his shirt. "Who cares? She left you. She sucks."

"Or she was smart," Alice snickered.

"Elena," Stefan's voice interrupted them. He pulled her aside.

Damon started to fiddle with the buttons and Alice slapped his hands. "You've gotten awfully handsy with me lately," he teased her with a smirk.

"You bring out the violent tendencies in me."

Moments later, Stefan returned. "Where'd your girlfriend go?" Damon teased.

"She's on her way to the Grill," he answered. "I uh, I wanted to talk to you." He took out a picture and handed it to Damon.

Alice stood on her tiptoes to look over his shoulders. Her face scrunched up. "Yeah that's the bitch my mom had issues with. I remember when I was barely four, Dev was a baby, and my mom clocked that bitch so hard it broke her fucking nose." She snickered.

"This is the woman," Stefan told him. "Isobel, from North Carolina. Remember her now?"

"Who wants to know?" She quipped.

"I do."

"Who _else_ wants to know?" Damon cut his eyes at his brother.

"Did you kill her?"

He handed his brother the picture back. "Sorry, don't know her."

* * *

It was no surprise that all eyes turned on Damon and Alice when they walked in. Her heels clicked on the floor. She hung off his arm with pride. He kept her close protectively. They both looked ready to kill at any given second and look damn good while they did it. He got them drinks (vodka and coke on ice and a bourbon) and Sheriff Forbes approached them.

"I ran the check on the history teacher," she told them with a folder in her hand. "You want this before or after your big debut?"

"How's it look?" He asked. She handed him the folder; Alice read over his shoulder.

"He checks out. Couple of speeding tickets. It's a rough story, though. Turns out his wife went missing a few years back in North Carolina."

"North Carolina?" Damon pondered.

"She have a name?" Alice asked.

"Yeah," Liz flipped the pages to a photo of the woman. "Isobel."

Her eyes widened. It was the exact same photo Stefan had showed them earlier. She looked up at Damon who's eyes were in the crowd. She followed his gaze and found Alaric Saltzman staring them down just as well. The doorbell chimed and Alice turned to find Stefan walking in as Carol Lockwood announced the bachelors.

"Number 4, "Alaric Saltzman." Wow. That's quite a mouthful. What do you do, Alaric?"

Damon chuckled and bent down to whisper in her ear. " _Watch this, babydoll."_ He kissed her cheek and walked off towards the stage. She leaned against the bar, sipping her drink.

"I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High," Alaric replied.

"Oh, beauty and brains, ladies. This one's a keeper. What do you teach?"

"History."

"History. Oh, well, give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls, something crazy!"

Alice found Damon who put a hand to his ear, mocking Alaric for a response. She snickered as she sipped the drink.

"He's probably saving the best stories for his date," Carol spoke when he didn't. "And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore. We don't have much on you."

Damon stood beside Alaric arrogantly. "Well, I'm tough to fit on a card."

"Do you have any hobbies? Like to travel?"

"Oh, yeah. L.A., New York. Couple of years ago, I was in North Carolina. Near the Duke campus, actually. I think—I think Alaric went to school there. Didn't you, Ric?"

She was bemused by the mention of Los Angeles and New York; she had tracked Devora to those cities. She tried to put it off to watch Alaric squirm.

"Yeah, 'cause I- I know your wife did." Damon continued.

Alice nearly spit out her drink laughing. She wanted nothing more than to yell, asking if he'd like some ice for that burn.

"I had a drink with her once. She was—she was a great girl. I ever tell you that? Cause she was - Delicious."

"Oh fuck," she laughed, watching Elena storm out of the Grill. Stefan followed after her.

Damon practically skipped back down to her and they shared a laugh. Moments later Elena came back in with Stefan as her shadow. "Did you enjoy that?" She yelled at him. "Rubbing it in to Alaric Saltzman?"

He laughed at her. "Didn't figure it'd twist _your_ panties so much."

"Did I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about my birth mother? The one that gave me up? Her name was Isobel."

"Plot twist," Alice laughed. Her ears caught Damon's raffle being called and she slyly checked the ticket hidden in her hand. The room fell silent while all the women checked their tickets until Alice started to laugh boisterously. She held the ticket between her fingers, shoving the numbers to Damon's face as Elena stormed back outside. "Consider yourself bought," she winked.

* * *

"How could a girl so intoxicating as you be outed by an entire town?" Damon asked as he twirled Alice while they walked up the steps of the boarding house.

"I've known to be very vexing," she laughed and he backed her against a wall. "Pretty sure being a vampire was the best thing to happen to me."

"Mm, I'm going to have to argue second best."

"Yeah?" She teased him. "What's first?"

"Well you wouldn't be a vampire without me," he smirked and grabbed her hips. "You're stronger, meaner. Sexy."

"I'm so glad Damon Salvatore approves." She laughed.

He kissed her passionately and lifted her off the ground. She wrapped her legs around his waist. They grabbed at each other and practically ripped open the door. As it slammed shut they realized they weren't alone. Alice's feet hit the floor with a click and she put a hand on her hip staring at Alaric with contempt.

"Are you really this stupid?" Damon practically groaned.

Alaric approached them. They could see the stake in his hand.

"Guess so." Alice rolled her eyes.

He moved to attack and Damon effortlessly threw him across the room. He landed on the hard floor painfully. Alaric got to his feet, still clung to the stake. "You gonna put the stake down?" Damon asked.

"Where's Isobel?" He demanded. "What have you done to my wife?"

"You want me to tell you I killed her? Would that make you happy? Because I think you know what happened."

"I saw you feeding on her."

"Oh, come on. What do you think happened? Not an inkling? Never considered the possibility?" Alaric glared at him, knuckles white from his grasp on the stake. "I turned her."

Alaric ran at him angrily, stake at the ready. "I'm done playing nice," Alice sneered. She leaped over the couch and tackled him to the floor, knocking the stake out of his hand.

"She came to me. All pathetic, looking for vampires." Damon went on while Alice held Alaric to the floor by his throat. "There was something about her, something I liked. There was something special. Much less special than my babydoll here but eh." He shrugged.

"You turned her because you liked her?" Alaric wheezed.

"No, I slept with her because I liked her. I turned her because she begged me to. Yeah. But you knew that, too, didn't you?" He picked up the stake, playing with it. "Hmm. I guess she wasn't happy at home, wasn't happy with life in general, wasn't happy with you."

Alaric slipped from Alice's hand but she reacted quickly and grabbed his throat with her arm in a chokehold. Damon whipped the stake at him and he wheezed, blood coming out of his mouth. "Sounds like I got a lung. Which means I get to sit here and watch you die." Damon smirked.

Barely a minute later Alice felt the life leave him and let him drop to the floor. "And dead," she grinned, grabbing a glass of vodka and sitting in a chair beside Damon. Alaric's body laid at that their feet.

The door opened and Stefan walked in. His jaw immediately dropped. He knew the things Damon was capable of but it seemed with Alice by his side they were the king and queen of massacre. He expected the arrogant look in Damon's eyes but the one in Alice's made his skin crawl. He saw a look in her eyes that could rival Katherine. A look of pure intent to kill. Her loyalty to Damon was what disturbed him the most. He was positive she was sired to him.

He wasn't sure if the flicker of Alaric's fingers should comfort of concern him either.


	13. Just Think of What the Doormouse Said

13: Just Think of What the Doormouse Said.

Damon sighed when he returned home. Alice was staring him down with a cold glare, her leg bouncing impatiently. Her arms were crossed over her chest. Pearl and Anna sat in the chairs on the sides of the couch where Alice sat. "Well it's about goddamn time."

"Hello, Damon," Pearl greeted as she stood.

"Ever hear of knocking?" He quipped. He could at least tell Alice wasn't hurt, just ticked off. He debated which was worse.

"An invitation wasn't necessary. I'm surprised that no living person resides here. Is it just you three?"

"Yeah," Anna chimed in. "How do you keep out unwelcome vampires?"

"I kill them." He replied coldly.

"Good thing you didn't try to instill that on Miss Monrovia."

The ravenette in question leaned forward sarcastically. "I don't say or do anything without my attorney present." She jerked her thumb towards Damon.

"Have a seat, Damon. I was hoping we could have a word."

Alice looked up at him just waiting for the word to defend their home. But it never came. Instead, Damon sat beside her on the couch with an arm protectively around her. He gave her a look telling her to be patient and quiet. Two things she wasn't very fond of.

"We've taken up residence at a farmhouse just outside the town. It'll suffice for now."

"All 25 vampires?" Damon questioned.

"Not all, some. I imagine that a few have already left town. Others are probably still in the woods or like us acclimating."

"How did they get out of the tomb?"

"I think the witch screwed up that part of her hocus pocus," Anna commented.

" I understand from Anna that the founding families still have a secret council?" Pearl continued to question.

"And you're a part of it." Anna interjected.

Damon rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous."

"I've been in Mystic Falls since the comet, Damon. I'm up to speed."

"And so am I." Pearl continued. She was getting under Alice's skin. "And now that you've infiltrated the council, I'll need to know everything they know. Starting with a listing names of all the council members and their families."

"And everyone you've supplied with vervain."

"Yes, that will have to stop immediately."

"What exactly are you trying to achieve?" Alice vocalized.

"Mystic Falls is our home, child. They took that from us. Our land, our home. It's time we rebuild."

Damon pinched the bridge of his nose. "What, are you crazy? It was 1864. Wake up woman. The world has moved on."

"As a reward for your help I'm willing to give you what you want most."

"I want nothing. Everything I did is sitting beside me." She looked up at him with surprise and pink tinted cheeks.

"Katherine.

Anna gasped and tugged her mother's sleeve pleadingly. She couldn't bring Katherine to Mystic Falls. She couldn't come between Alice and Damon. She promised Devora. Her gaze landed on Alice and she almost shrank back behind her mother. The look of pure danger and wrath in the girl's eyes was enough to frighten anyone.

"I no longer have any desire to see Katherine ever again. And there's no way in hell I'm gonna play the role of your little minion."

Anna watched Alice's expression soften and she relaxed herself. She knew her and her mother both had years on the raven haired newbie; what was so scary about her?

"I'm not asking for your help, Damon. Finding Katherine was just a mere gesture of kindness. The rest is non-negotiable." Her hand shot out and grabbed Damon by the throat, lifting him off the couch and off his feet.

One again Anna saw the shift in Alice's eyes. As quickly as the darkness left the fire spread. She watched as Alice knocked her mother's hand from Damon's jugular, punched her in the nose, and held her by her own throat to the floor. She could see the same, clear shock on her mother's face.

"You wanna know what's non-negotiable?" The young vampire sneered in Pearl's face. "Getting answers about my sister. You want to keep running your mouth about the cunt that took her like I won't tear her head off her shoulders the second she steps foot into this stupid town. She's a two faced bitch. Ditch her." Anna jumped when Alice directed her anger at her. "Devora Monrovia. Answers now or off with mommy's head."

"Katherine's been stalking the Salvatores for years!" She blurted when she realized Alice had enough grip to really hold Pearl in place. She wasn't willing to call the ravenette's bluff. "The cities Katherine took Devora to were ones the at least one of the brothers were in at the time. She's had beef with the Monrovia line for years - since the death of her best friend, Devora Monrovia. Your sister reminded her of her best friend. That's why she's alive and with Katherine. I spent time with her. She said Katherine was going to find you and she offered herself. She was protecting you. She's still trying to."

Alice removed herself from Pearl's throat slowly, a disturbed realization all over her face. She ducked her head so her hair covered her face. She sat on her knees. "Go," she told them in a dark tone. They didn't hesitate in scrambling out the door. Damon stood behind her, waiting for the explosion. He couldn't see her face. "You even harassed Alaric about it," she muttered. "L.A., New York…"

"Alice," he started cautiously.

She jumped to her feet, running her hands through her thick hair. "Did none of that ring a bell to you when we were tracking my sister? Katherine's been following you just to watch you ruin yourself over her with my sister at her side. My parents are dead, I was sent away, and my sister was taken _and turned_ by Katherine fucking Pierce! So help me god I am going to tear her apart piece by fucking piece."

"Alice, hang on," he called to her as she grabbed her jacket.

"I need some air or I'm gonna tear out _your_ throat, Damon." The door slammed behind her.

* * *

Alice walked around the cemetery with her hands in her jacket pockets. She found her parents' tomb stones beside one another. Noah Monrovia and Cherie (nee, Lamaire) Monrovia. She ran her fingers delicately over the stones as she walked past. She saw a few more Monrovia names until she came to Elizabeth Monrovia. Beside her was Damon Salvatore and Stefan beside him. Her head tilted to the side, lips parting, as she stared at Damon's name engraved on stone. She had to admit that she was glad to not see Devora Monrovia engraved anywhere.

Her ears picked up rustling behind her. A branch snapped. She whirled around ready to strike whoever it was when her arm was blocked. She snarled but froze when she looked at the girl's face. Alice stumbled backwards into Elizabeth's headstone. Devora Monrovia smiled back at her. She nearly fell to her knees.

"Dev…?" She begged, starting to cry. "I've really lost it now, haven't I? Am I seeing things…?"

The dark brunette walked up and enveloped her in a tight hug. Alice could smell the Bath and Body Works perfumes and dirt all over her blue flannel. "It's really me, Liss. I promise. I'm so sorry."

Alice started to sob uncontrollably. Dev sat on the grass holding her big sister comfortingly while she cried. She started to sing softly to her sister while she pet her hair.

"Carry on my wayward son  
There'll be peace when you are done  
Lay your weary head to rest  
Don't you cry no more  
Once I rose above the noise and confusion  
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion  
I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high  
Masquerading as a man with a reason  
My charade is the event of the season  
And if I claim to be a wise man,  
It surely means I don't know  
Carry on my wayward son  
There'll be peace when you are done  
Lay your weary head to rest  
Don't you cry no more…"

Alice laughed a little and started to sit up. "At least you're still passionate about Supernatural." She wiped her face with her sleeves.

Dev grinned. "One of the few things Katherine did right was get cable wherever we went."

"Your dream of being a hunter must have gotten shot to shit," Alice snickered.

The brunette lightly punched her arm. "Yeah otherwise I'd have to stake my sister and her boyfriend." Alice's cheeks turned pink and she looked away. "Oh come on, like I don't know. I've kept tabs on you. I've seen you with Damon. You love him."

"How would you possibly know? All I heard was that you've been with Katherine fucking Pierce and she turned you on your birthday. What the hell am I supposed to think?"

She sighed and fiddled with her own daylight ring. "Katherine didn't know our parents had two daughters - she only heard about one. She was going to find you first but I made noise and she found me in the closet. She looked at me and asked my name so I told her. She hit me because she thought I was lying. I told her 'Why the hell would I lie about my name?' And she bit me." She rubbed her neck at the memory. "Something hit her like a sack of friggen concrete and next thing I knew I was in NOLA. She still didn't know about you and I tried so hard to keep it that way."

Alice's jaw was dropped and her sister continued. "She found out around my seventeenth birthday because I'd been checking in on you. I was furious that the town sent you to that disgusting place. It upset me and I looked into it and she found out. She got so pissed when she found out Lexi was your charge nurse and she couldn't touch you so she turned me in retaliation. All she did was make it easier for me by giving me the ability to compel people. I got you released on a different date than what she knew because I knew Damon was already in Mystic Falls. If I couldn't keep you hidden any longer he could protect you. So I set up the bread crumbs so Lexi would send you to Mystic Falls. I knew you wouldn't go back willingly."

"You've got to be blowing me," the ravenette muttered. "What the hell made you think he'd protect me? He tried to kill me the first day we met! To top it off," she gestured to herself insinuating the fact that he had turned her.

Dev laughed lightly. "Are you going to complain, though? Yeah, I didn't think so. Damon was totally your type - mouthy, clever, kind of a douche, black sheep, smokin' hot," she winked at her sister.

Alice sweatdropped. "I'm going to ignore that on both ends."

"I know you and Damon love each other. You're disgustingly obvious. I just wanted to slam your faces together in a cute way instead of the constant mind-blowing fucking."

Her face turned bright red. "Stay the hell out of my sex life! You're my little sister! I oughta wash out your damn mouth with soap!"

She laughed louder, nearly falling over. " _Soeur,_ " Alice frowned and listened with her arms crossed. "Cut the shit, come on. I've seen you two together. I watched you fall in love with each other. It was better than the cable! You love Damon. He loves you. There's nothing complicated about it. That love is stronger than Katherine's wrath."

"And the town called me insane," she rolled her eyes.

Devora grabbed her sister's face, forcing her to see her serious expression. "Liss, I watched him dangle you off the second floor."

"I was drunk. He was drunk. We were both just...fucked up."

"He asked if you trusted him. You didn't even hesitate. He told you he could drop you and kill you and you said you didn't care."

"He ended up snapping my neck at the end of that you know."

"He let you go and you didn't scream. You knew he'd be right there to catch you. You kept looking in his eyes while you fell until you blinked and he was gone. Then you were safely in his arms. That was the moment you fell in love with him. Because you knew that he'd never just let you fall. You fell in love human and it only magnified when he turned you. Do you get it yet, Liss?"

Alice looked like she couldn't breathe. She felt like it too. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest, the blood rushing to her cheeks and turning them pink. Her crystal slipped from beneath her shirt, the bell chiming through the silent air. The darkness seemed to lift from her grey eyes as the same thought replayed over and over in her head.

She really was in love with Damon Salvatore.

* * *

"Vodka and Coke on the rocks, please."

Damon chuckled. "See, babydoll, you just needed to-" He had turned in his bar stool to face who he believed was Alice. He froze when he realized it wasn't.

The brunette took the empty seat beside him, sipping her drink calmly. She smiled at him as he stared with shock. "I take it I don't need to introduce myself then. Pleasure to finally meet you in person, Damon."

"Devora Monrovia," he breathed. "The one who's supposed to be dead. What are you doing in Mystic Falls so suddenly?" He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Have you seen your sister…?"

She smiled softly and sipped her drink. "Yes I have. We spoke."

He sweatdropped, figuring the worst.

"Tell me something, Damon, when is it that you think you fell in love with my sister?" He choked on his bourbon. "Because I know exactly when it was." She grinned at him. She saw the way he swallowed nervously.

"I don't know what you're talking about kid. I'm not in love with anyone. Love sucks."

She rolled her eyes. He noticed they were more blue than her sister's but still just as grey. You could tell they were related. "Damon, I'm here right now blatantly denying Katherine's orders. I wasn't to step foot in Mystic Falls without her, let alone to see you and my sister. I kept her safe for as long as I could. I need you to pick it up like you had without even knowing."

Damon stared absentmindedly into his liquor. The image of Alice getting ready for the Founder's Party came to his mind. He recalled how soft her pale skin looked especially against the dark maroon dress he had picked out. Her hair stuck out in places she couldn't notice or didn't care about. He thought of every curve down her body in that dress and the way it hugged her. Her face as soon as she turned around replayed; the surprise and pink cheeks making him smile. At first she stumbled in the black heels but she had adjusted quickly. He'd heard her struggle upstairs for some time beforehand.

"It was the night of the Founder's Party," he admitted. "I picked out a dress for her and made her be my date to torment my brother. I had a feeling she looked good in a dark red. I found the maroon dress and she brought it to life. She was beautiful."

"Yeah she was," Devora agreed with a smile. She finished her drink and pat his hand comfortingly. "I need you to keep looking after her, alright? I know you love her and I know you can. I also know that she took a swan dive for her love."

He turned but she was already gone. He finally understood what Alice meant about her smelling like Bath and Body Works and dirt. He sighed and sipped his bourbon, the girl's words haunting his memory. Alice took a swan dive for love. What the fuck? She didn't swan dive off of anything let alone for love. Poor girl had been shattered so many times she probably didn't know what the word meant.

Alice took a swan dive for love. He shook his head.

There was the time on the roof of the Grille, the Vicky incident. No, she hadn't fallen or anything. She'd been in his arms the whole time. He shook his head.

Alice took a swan dive for love. He was starting to get a headache.

 _Her heels were hanging off the edge and he only held her by her hands. Without looking away from him or taking a second to think she answered, "Yes."_

" _You know I could very well let you drop. You watched how easily I killed a whole group of people. Letting you fall would be even easier. And you have my blood in your system so if you died you'd turn."_

" _I still trust you, Damon. You seem to forget that I'm crazy."_

 _He continued to stare into her eyes for a moment before letting go of her hands and watching her fall off the side. She didn't scream or yell or even close her eyes. In a flash he was below and caught her before she hit the floor._

Damon choked on his bourbon.


	14. To Change Your State of Mind

14: And Every Creature Lends Themselves to Change Your State of Mind.

Alice had sat in the cemetery collecting her thoughts for some time. She finally realized how foolish she'd been and ran off towards the boarding house. She detoured through the woods, enjoying jumping through the trees. She stopped abruptly when she heard a branch snap that wasn't caused by her. She went on high alert but couldn't see or hear anyone. Maybe it was just an animal?

Yeah, about as much as it was actual animal attacks happening in town.

Someone grabbed her from behind. She thrashed and fought back until the vervain was injected into her skin. She screamed from behind the man's hand. She'd done so well at avoiding vervain. She didn't know it hurt _that_ bad. She felt her knees hit the dirt and everything went black.

Of course. Because nothing can ever work out for Alice.

* * *

When Damon couldn't reach Alice or Stefan he sought out Elena. She hadn't been able to get ahold of Stefan since he went hunting in the woods either. Rage and fear crept up his back, one of the tomb vampires' faces coming to mind along with Anna and Pearl.

"Where could they be?" Elena asked with concern.

"You're not going to like what I'm thinking."

He ended up at the farm house by himself with no plan in mind. "Pearl! Open this door. I swear to God I'll bust through and rip your head off."

"Pearl's not home." Frederick answered the door with a smirk. "Hmm. Beautiful weather. Not a ray of sun in the sky."

"Where the hell is Alice and my brother?" Damon snarled.

"Oh you mean that cute little Monrovia girl you've been keeping all for yourself? What, little lonely with Elizabeth dead and Katherine having turned her back?"

Damon moved to rip his head off his shoulders, stopped from entering by a barrier. Frederick laughed and told him about Miss Gibbons owning the home. He compelled the woman to make sure Damon would never be allowed in the home. Alice's shrill cry rang through the house and across the farm. Something in Damon's eyes broke.

Frederick laughed. "Ah yeah she's been a real treat. She's got some fight in her. She's even tried defending your brother. She's got spirit. I'm gonna break that and watch her crumble before I shove a stake through her heart. 145 years left starving in a tomb, thanks to Katherine's infatuation with you and your brother. First few weeks, every single nerve in your body screams with fire. The kind of pain that can drive a person mad. Well...I thought your brother and new piece of ass might want to get a taste of that before I killed them. You have a nice day." He slammed the door on Damon's face.

He stood on the porch for a moment listening to Alice's wails. Rage consumed him and he zoomed off back to the Boarding House for a plan of action.

* * *

"Sweet dreams are made of this…" Alice sang hoarsely. "Who am I to disagree…"

"Alice," Stefan called to her. He was tied by vervain ropes to a pipe that constantly dripped vervain on him. She was chained to the wall across from him. Her clothes were in tatters leaving her in her black bra and shredded remains of jeans. She lolled her head muttering the same song over and over. "Alice," he desperately tried to reach her. "Alice please…"

"Well hello, craziness," came Frederick down the stairs. He lifted her head so her dazed eyes could look at him. "Your knight in shining armor came for you. He wasn't as thrilled as I am to hear you scream. But there's no chance he's ever getting in here. No one can save you."

"He's lying, Alice," Stefan argued still. "Don't listen to him!" He knew her mind was her weakness. He hated looking at her the way she was but he needed to know if she still had her necklace on. He thankfully saw it tucked into her bra. But it didn't mean her mind was protected from harm; only from lies. He had to watch another round of Frederick throwing wooden darts into her flesh and telling her she was insane.

"They've already locked you up and thrown away the key," he taunted her. "They don't want to deal with your brand of crazy. No one does."

"Damon…" She muttered, eyes glossy.

"Yes, Alice!" Stefan cried. "Damon cares about you! He does! Hold onto that!"

Frederick whipped a chunk of wood into Stefan's stomach, making him groan. He went over to her and took the throwing knives from her boots. He used her for target practice for half an hour before slitting her wrists and throwing vervain on her. When the door shut again Alice was back to muttering to herself.

"Some of them want to use you...some of them want to get used by you...some of them want to abuse you...some of them want to be abused…"

Stefan finally noticed the pigtails Frederick put in her hair. Her head lolled around and she looked as though she was seeing things. She started to cry and beg. Stefan understood at last; in her mind, she was back at the institution. His heart broke for her as he watched her hallucinate.

" _Alice Monrovia!"_ She heard.

She stifled a sob. "Please, no...I didn't do it…"

" _Then who did?"_

"Dev...Dev...where's my sister?"

" _Your sister is dead. You killed your family."_

"No I didn't!" She cried, starting to thrash. "My sister can't be dead!"

After so long Stefan had to look away and try to tune it out.

* * *

"What happened?" Elena asked. "Where is he?"

Damon scowled. "They have _both of them_. I can't get in."

Elena bit her lip, realizing her mistake. "Why not?"

"Because the woman who owns the house is compelled to not let me in."

"I can get in."

"You're not going in there."

"What about me?"

They turned and found Alaric with a duffel bag. Damon pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're not going in there either. Why are you even here? Last I checked you wanted me and Alice pretty dead."

"Why are they doing this?" Elena cried. "What do they want with them?"

"Revenge." Alaric replied. "They want revenge. Everything with Katherine, being locked in the tomb; turns out the Monrovia family has given them a run for their money too."

"We gotta do something." The brunette looked up at Damon.

"I know."

"We can't let them hurt him. Or Alice. We gotta get them out of there."

"I know. Elena, I know." He snapped, causing her to flinch. "But I don't know how to get them out. All I know is that I'm going to rip Frederick's heart from his chest and stomp on it."

Damon went to pour himself a glass of bourbon but froze up immediately. The cup slipped from his hand, shattering on the floor. Everything around him stopped. He could feel cool metal on his wrists and everything hurt painfully. Black spots clouded his vision. They faded and he saw a basement; Stefan was tied up across from where he could see. He could feel the link breaking but forced it stronger. He forced his way through to the point that he felt Alice's blood dripping down his body as though it were his own. He could feel her agony; her head throbbed. He could hear whispers that weren't there.

" _Damon!"_

He (through Alice's eyes he realized) saw his brother staring wide eyed. He was promptly thrown back into his own body and stumbled back a little.

"You tranced out like Alice did!" Elena exclaimed. "Your eyes turned color and everything to her grey! What happened?"

"I know what it is now," he breathed. A lot had surprisingly been taken out of him. "We can channel each other. I didn't even think that was a thing." He shook his head. "We don't have a lot of time. They aren't doing well."

"Let's get moving then," Alaric spoke up.

* * *

She could feel him. Oh god it was like a rush. For even a split second she felt free. She could smell his bourbon and leather. She saw the boarding house. And just like that it was all gone and she was back in her own prison. She started to cry and thrash around, the chains only tearing at her skin more with the barbed wire wrapped around. She heard the murmurs of the girls whispering about her; she saw the staff's disgusted looks.

"Alice you have to listen to me," Stefan continued to plead through his own pain. The vervain had severely burned through his flesh. "Alice it's not real, okay? Even at the institution you had Lexi - Nurse Branson, remember? She wanted what was best for you. She wanted you to fight."

"Lexi…" Alice mused, calming down just a notch. He could still see the vacant look to her eyes.

" _She knew where you were, Damon,"_ Anna's voice haunted her. " _She didn't care."_

She let out an ear piercing wail that made even Stefan flinch as the visions of her parents' murder played over and over again. She watched Katherine devour her family and slip away with her sister. She was at the Gilberts'. She was in the hospital. She was in court. She was in the institution. Over and over and over again. Through the dark Stefan swore he saw something appearing on the bare skin of her stomach.

Frederick came back downstairs for another round or torment. He sprayed Stefan with vervain and got up in Alice's face, dragging a stake down her skin. She snarled like a feral animal and wrapped her legs tightly around his throat, suffocating him. While he flailed beneath her grasp he helped her pull at the chains. Stefan saw her irises turn black as she screamed, pulling the barbed wire down with her wrists. He watched the wire tear apart her flesh but she kept pulling.

Frederick broke free from her gasp as the chains gave way. She rushed at him, wrapping the chains around his throat and choking him. Stefan's vision was going fuzzy but he could see the animal in her pitch black eyes as she struggled with the older vampire. He was afraid of where the strength came from, finally able to see some kind of sigil having spawned out around her navel ring. She snarled and tore into his throat. Stefan had to look away.

* * *

Damon didn't care whose neck he was snapping. He snapped them all as he strut down the hall, finally able to do so freely. His ears picked up a struggle in the basement and he ventured that way. Alice's scream pierced the house and Frederick ran up past him covered in blood screaming about a monster. Damon sped down and saw Stefan tied up as he had in the vision with Alice bleeding horribly on the floor. A stake stuck out from between her ribs. The black sigil that appeared on her stomach was gone.

"You need to get that stake," Stefan told his brother weakly. "It's too close to her heart."

While Damon focused on Alice, Elena slipped down. Damon muttered about how she never listened as she took Stefan down from his restraints. She quickly got him out of the house. He saw her necklace still around her neck and exhaled a small sigh of relief. He picked Alice up delicately, her head lolling in her state of half-consciousness. In the kitchen Frederick waited with another stake.

"There is no way on this fucking Earth that I'm letting a Monrovia walk as a vampire," he told Damon shakily. He was terrified.

"Bad news for you, pal - babydoll has a sister who was turned by Katherine."

Frederick's eyes widened with terror. "Then I guess I'll have to kill that bitch too because I don't know if she's just as much of a monster."

Damon opened his mouth to question why the hell he kept calling her a monster but out of nowhere the barely conscious girl in his arms sprang to life. She flipped out of his arms and to her feet where she started going feral on Frederick. She attacked him viciously including jamming his stake into his side. Fearfully he ran off without looking back. He knew what the sigil on her stomach was.

When Damon put his hand on her shoulder she grabbed is harshly and slammed him into the wall with enough force that actually hurt. He groaned and opened his eyes, finding hers black. She attacked him and he restrained her. He could see in her eyes, as black as they were, that she was not in the same reality. He knew he could help her if he could get into her head but he couldn't do that with her necklace on. They struggled but Damon had just enough more strength than her to break the cord.

* * *

He opened his eyes and was surrounded by grey. The overwhelming scent of blood of death traipsed through the miserable halls. There was a trail of blood and bodies on the dirty floor. Damon followed it, acknowledging the scratches along the walls done by human nails. He found an electroshock room with a girl shocked to death on the table. One girl bashed her skull into her door enough times to kill herself. Even he had to cover his nose at one point while he followed the hall.

At the end of the hall there was big, metal double doors with a sign that said 'Authorized Personnel Only'. It even had a key code. A locked unit. Blood seeped from under the door. He forced the doors open but wasn't prepared for what he saw.

Alice was in the center of the room on her knees with her legs pointed out to the sides. There were about ten beds in the room with nine girls all dressed in black leggings and a grey shirt with their throats ripped out. Five male doctors twice as mutilated. Six nurses with their necks snapped, three with their hearts also torn out. Bloody smears of handprints and claws were at the doors from them trying to escape. But they couldn't put in the code in time. Alice knelt in a massive pool of blood with her head hung low so her hair covered her face. She was covered in blood. Her grey shirt was red.

"Alice…" He breathed, bottom lip trembling slightly. Was this really the conditions she had endured at the institution?

Her head snapped up the second his voice resounded off the walls. Bloody tears streamed from her eyes down her pale cheeks. He ran to her and pulled her in his arms while they sat in the pool of blood. He stroked her blood caked hair and rocked her back and forth. "Shh, shh, it's going to be alright, babydoll."

"No it's not," Alice sobbed. "You didn't see what I did. You don't know what's inside of me."

He put his hands on the sides of her face to make her look at him. "I just need the truth. Just once, Alice."

She knew what he meant. She sobbed again. He asked her again. She couldn't deny that pleading look in his ice blue eyes. "The truth is…" She put her blood dripping hands on his on her face. "I love you, Damon."

He kissed her, taking her off guard. The tattered remains of the curtains fell around the room. Sunlight beamed through the massive windows. She was breathless when he pulled back. "That's what makes it okay, Alice." Her necklace appeared in his hand and he placed it over her head, smiling at her. He leaned close so their noses touched. "That's what makes it okay."


	15. Go Ask Alice, I Think She'll Know

15: Go Ask Alice, I Think She'll Know.

"Finally, it worked! I can't believe you had to actually slay the Jabberwocky. Hot damn."

Alice started to come to with a mild groan. She felt positively awful. The last thing she remembered off the top of her head was being chained up in the farm house basement. She turned her head and had to blink when she saw her sister sitting at her bedside. "Devora?" Her voice came out hoarse.

The brunette handed her a blood bag which she eagerly drank. "I heard what happened and told Katherine to kiss my ass."

She choked. "You told her what?!" Her voice had returned in full.

Dev scratched the back of her head, laughing nervously. "Well I mean, not really. I just kind of...left. You know?" She thought of what Katherine's face must have looked like when she realized and laughed hysterically. "Everyone's been so worried about you - especially Damon." She jutted her bottom lip out. "But they've been busy dealing with the tomb vampires left, Katherine's plots, Stefan addicted to human blood again, it's been a mess. But I finally got you to slay that fucking Jabberwocky and come back!"

"I was in Wonderland…" She muttered. "That's not right…"

"You can thank Damon for that. You were trapped in your own mind but he refused to let you relive your time at the institution again. So he made you Alice in Wonderland. Don't worry, he obviously gave you your necklace back." Her hand found the crystal still dangling from around her neck. The cord had been broken and retied. "Well come on! I know you just woke up and everything but you don't even want to know what I went through to get our dresses and get you on the roster."

"For what?" Alice questioned as her sister started digging out makeup and hair products.

"Miss Mystic Falls, duh." She rolled her eyes. "I compelled you a slot. I promise I won't compel your winning but I at least wanted to see you compete."

"What?! Are you insane? I am _not_ Miss Mystic Falls. Why the hell didn't you do it?"

"Because I'm still technically classified as 'missing'? Again, duh?" Dev rolled her eyes. "Go take a shower - you've been comatose for like two weeks now. Brand new razor in the shower to cut through those trees so they can look proper in a dress."

Alice's face turned red with embarrassment. "I'm showering because it's been apparently two weeks. Not to wear some dress and deal with Miss Mystic Falls."

"Keep telling yourself that!"

* * *

"This feels wrong as all hell," Alice complained, fiddling with the hem of the baby blue dress her sister got her. She had also taken Alice's crystal and put it on a black choker (not without a small fight).

"You look like a modern Alice in Wonderland, eat me," Dev quipped, smoothing down her own pastel pink lace dress. "I went through hell and back to find that dress. If I had to keep looking I was about to try and sell my soul at a crossroads for it!"

"Why?" She continued to complain. "Isn't Miss Mystic Falls supposed to wear a long dress anyways?"

"It's classified as 'tea time' length, thank you. Below the knees, above the ankles to show off your adorable black slippers."

"You know Alice is blonde, right?"

"Alice Madness isn't," Dev grinned at her, shoving her into the room where all the other pageant girls would soon be. "Listen, the only one I can't compel in this room to forget my existence is Elena for obvious reasons. After that I've got to stay hidden so I'm gonna put on a wig."

"I'll know your eyes and your perfume," Alice muttered as she stared in a mirror, still fiddling with the dress.

"I don't wear perfume," the brunette laughed a little.

"You always smell like Bath and Body Works and dirt. Not because you buy and wear the perfume but because you always go in and smell everything. The dirt because you're always outside making a mess of yourself."

"Damn, you can smell that on me as a vampire?" She started to sniff herself.

Alice laughed. "No you moron I could smell it as a human too. It never changed. That's how I knew it was you."

"Devora?"

The ravenette groaned. And so it began.

"Hello, Elena," the brunette greeted with a soft smile. "You look nice in dark colors. I suppose."

Elena was befuddled for more reason than one. She thought she heard something about Devora being alive but clearly had focused more on her own life to miss such a large detail. She was quick to notice and called Elena out about it.

"Hm, I didn't expect this much confusion. Are you too self-oriented or just daft?"

Alice snorted. "And you thought I had a mouth? She's just more fancy about the shit she says. She was meant to be a vampire like centuries ago. Not now."

They saw the color pale from her face. "Y-you're also a-?"

Devora sped over to her and held her loosely by the throat off the floor and above her own head. "Katherine turned me in retaliation for my seventeenth birthday because I never gave up on my sister like you and the rest of this town did. And if you're wondering, yes I have enough impulse control to do what I do as you can see by the fact that you're not struggling to breathe right now." She set Elena down calmly on her feet and greeted the girls as they entered, compelling them each.

Elena and Alice made eye contact. Alice could see the uncertainty and fear in her chocolate eyes. The weakness but determination that ended up becoming brave ignorance. Elena saw the shattered remnants of a fiery spirit behind Alice's grey eyes. She saw the strength of a thousand fires but she could also see her walls cracking. She was losing her grip on reality. The longer Elena stared the more she could see something malefic creeping up behind the shattered remains of the girl.

The girl truly did look like a dark, modern Alice in Wonderland pushing Alice Madness. The baby blue dress hugged her well, sweetheart neckline coming just above her breasts with caplet sleeves. The dress flared into 'tea time' length still showing the black flats. Her hair was down in loose, thick waves with a baby blue headband. She never really noticed just how beautiful Alice really was before.

"I'm glad you're awake," she told the ravenette softly.

"I guess you have my sister and Damon to thank for that. Speaking of, as you're natural Buzzkill Beth, where is he? I woke up to Dev who dragged me here."

"Don't worry," came her sister. "He'll be here." She winked.

* * *

[Flashback - Yesterday]

"For the love of all that is unholy are you ever going to leave her side?"

Damon looked up to see Devora in the doorway. He was confused. "Thought you were under direct order to avoid."

"I heard what happened to my sister and left. I'll take the consequences. Alice meant more to me than Katherine's wrath."

"Okay but still what is there for you to do? She's been this way for almost two weeks now. I tried to help as best as I could but she just won't snap out of it…"

Devora walked over to where he sat in a chair beside her sister's bed. "I'll let you in on a secret if you do me a favor."

"Does the secret help Alice?"

"In more ways than one."

"What's the favor?"

"Go to the Miss Mystic Falls pageant tomorrow. Your tux is already hung up in your closet. You're an escort. Just wait to be announced. And shut the fuck up I have a plan. A diabolical master plan if you will." She winked.

Damon chuckled, still staring at Alice. She looked peaceful even though he knew she really wasn't. He sighed. "You can wake her up?"

She could hear the strain in his voice, how it hurt him to watch her sister just laying there. She hesitated a moment before placing her small hand on his shoulder. He felt a small shock. She held her other hand out and the door slammed closed. All he could do was stare. "Yes, Damon. I can wake her up. But you have to keep your mouth shut."

* * *

[Present]

" _Miss Tina Fell, escorted by Bartholomew Whitmore."_

Dev got up in her sister's face and did last minute fixes on her hair and makeup. She smoothed her sister's dress and got her hands furiously slapped away when she "made sure her boobs were even".

"What happened to Stefan?" Caroline questioned.

"I don't know, he just disappeared somewhere, I don't know. What am I doing? I never should have gone through with this." Elena shook her head. "I need to find Stefan, this isn't me, I'm not this person anymore."

"I never was this person," Alice muttered.

"Yes you were!" Devora protested. "You were supposed to be in the pageant the year of the murder; you learned the stupid no touching dance and everything!"

Alice blinked, lips parted. "That's what this is about?"

" _Miss Caroline Forbes and her escort Jeffrey Lockwood Hamilton."_

Dev looked at the floor with sadness. "Mom had signed you up and you pitched a fit but agreed when I asked you to do. I wanted to see you look like a princess. We got to spend so much time together, the three of us. This time I wanted to see you look like a queen dancing with her king."

She stared at her sister. Elena could see her expression soften and a light come to her grey eyes the way it did when she was with Damon. "Okay," she finally said softly with a small smile.

The brunette looked up at her sister with wide, hopeful eyes.

" _Miss Alice Monrovia and her escort Damon Salvatore."_

Alice gave her sister a peck on each of her cheeks before heading to the door. She gave Devora and Elena a small wave and walked to the stop of the stairs. She swore her heart stopped beating the moment she laid eyes on him. He was in black head to toe except the baby blue tie. She'd only seen him as the Mad Hatter in her dream world. Her cheeks grew warmer with each step she descended. The look in his eyes made her legs want to give out.

Damon hadn't expected to see what he did. He had a suspicion Devora would set it up as she did, but not that she would make her sister even more stunning than she already was. Her hair bounced with every step, the light reflecting off her eyes. Her pale cheeks turned red with embarrassment. The blue dress was almost more perfect than the maroon (obviously because Damon himself had picked out the maroon dress). It was electric when he took hold of her arm and guided her to the back. He felt like he could finally breathe again.

She felt more human than she had in weeks in that moment. Somehow he always made her felt like a doofy little girl. She bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from grinning stupidly. She just wanted to throw herself into his arms but couldn't even touch him during the stupid dance. She had hope for after the dance ended but she was promptly escorted on stage. If anyone was a telepath they would hear a constant groan in Alice's mind.

Alice looked amongst the crowd anxiously for her sister. She wasn't sure what color wig Dev had put on. A blur of pastel pink caught her eye. The girl had glimmering ocean blue eyes. Dev had worn a light blonde wig. She gave her big sister two thumbs up.

"Before I crown the winner, I'd like to offer a personal thank you to all of these young ladies for their efforts to better our community," Mayor Lockwood announced.

The ravenette sweatdropped. She was basically public enemy number one personally sent to the loony bin by the _town_. There is nothing in the universe Dev could have compelled to make that look better. Since Alice had been in town she hung out with the trouble and ended up a vampire. She wanted to laugh and walk off stage. No way in hell she was going to be Miss Mystic Falls. What a joke.

"So, without further adieu it is my honor to announce our very own Miss Mystic Falls, _Alice Monrovia!_ " The crowd clapped slowly. Hushed murmurs started to sound. Alice's breathing picked up pace. "We are incredibly thankful for her to have reminded us of the Monrovia name and what it once meant in this town. We found the Monrovia family journal and without it we would not know all we do now to help keep this town safe!"

 _Thud._

Could vampires faint? Because Alice sure did.

* * *

"Good morning, Vietnam!"

Alice screamed and jumped, falling off the couch and onto the floor. Devora was laughing hysterically at the side of the couch her head had been on. She was still in her blue dress and tackled her sister to the floor. Dev flung her sister off and laughed. "Chill out, we've got bigger issues. Like Stefan in the basement."

She slapped both of her hands to her face. "I don't know why I bother anymore."

"Well, no, get this shit; one of the competitors - Amber - was missing. So was Stefan. Guess who upgraded from bunny to the deluxe meal?"

"You've got to be blowing me."

Dev made a face with a half smile. "No. Stop saying that; it's weird." Alice rolled her eyes. "Bonnie put his ass _down_. I can dig that chick, B-T-dubs. That stands for-"

"I'm going to slap you so hard I snap your neck. I know what it fucking means."

"Whatever," she snickered. "Anyway, Bonnie put him down and Damon got some serious karma by vervaining him to sleep and locking his ass in the basement. Pretty hysterical if you ask me."

"So Stefan is like a strung out druggie locked in the basement right now?" The brunette nodded. "Oh I so want a piece of this."

Dev slapped her sister on the side of her head. "He's been good to you. A lame, self-righteous yet self-loathing, emo good but good nonetheless!" Alice snickered and started to walk upstairs. "He just needs to clean his system like a drug addict would have to do and stay clean."

"Are you suggesting he go back to Bambi's mom?" She made a face.

The brunette flung herself on her sister's bed. "It works for him."

"Oh god," Alice groaned, stripping off her dress. "Tell me you aren't a vegan too. There's no fucking way with that strength."

Dev's nose twitched. "No, no I'm not. I've got a friend a blood bank."

She threw her hands into the air after she had leggings on. "Then don't be a hypocrite! Vampires are predators, humans are prey. It's at your own discretion to kill or not."

"Okay and how about alcohol? It's at your discretion to drink. Some people become addicted. There's plenty of other drinks to have. Stefan will be addicted if he drinks human blood so why not choose from all the other drinks to have that won't hurt him?"

Alice rolled her eyes.


End file.
